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Marion Prost 

March 12, 2025

 

Oceans rise and fashion weeks come and go, always leaving behind an indecent amount of reviews, forecasts, and celebrity sightings for all to lose sleep over. But as soon as the last designer bows and leaves the runway, the industry has to look at the numbers, crunch them as well, potentially. Thinking about all those sales reports and data analytics, I had to ask: when we look at a collection, is it better to look at it through the eyes of a shopper or an observer? 

 

There’s a clear difference, let me break it down for you. There are two types of people in fashion; the ones who talk about the art and the ones who make the money. The observer - the critic, the journalist, the “I-have-thoughts” crowd - they see a collection as a statement. They analyse the references, the silhouette evolution, the social commentary between every pearl and under every sole. To them, and tell me if I’m wrong, a show is a narrative, a conversation between designer and culture, a form of artistic expression that absolutely needs to be dissected and debated, a thesis on what’s next... But for the shopper, it’s a totally different thing. The shopper is focused on the bottom line. They ask the important questions; Will this sell? Will it hang in my closet, in my client’s closet? Will it sell out before it even hits the racks? Observers write think pieces; shoppers write checks.