The future of fast fashion .

25.03.2020

In an hour from now, Paris has been in complete lockdown for a week .

The French are known for their love of paperwork and have their very own form of bureaucracy where paper matters, that could be done, overwith and gone in 15 minutes, can take 15 hours, 15 days, 15 weeks or sometimes 15 months .

The lockdown of the entire country was done with two hours notice and all was closed, with the accuracy of a well conducted ballet or, in this case, with military precision . When the French mean business, it just gets done and the level of public information is impressive . We get emails, the concierges around town are briefed and the documents we need to present if we go out are ready and hung in every apartment building . The television have constant infomercials and the billbords in the streets remind us to stay at home, wash our hands and keep, what was unknown to most a week ago, social distance .

I am, at present, still allowed to take my dog for a walk, if I keep a distance of five meters to other dog walkers, have my documents ready and stay within a distance of one kilometer from the home . I think that those of us that are allowed to go out feel guilty and as traitors to those, the absolute majority, that aren`t .

To show our solidarity with the healthcare workers we all go to our windows at 20.00 `clock  and clap, whistle and shout “bravo” , but also to show each other that we are at home;  “rester chez nous ” , has become a theme for many homemade songs and covers .

All the parks are closed and we meet, at most, one other dog at our ventures .

The area, in the 1. Arrondissement of Paris, is dominated by hotels, restaurants and shops .

It is bizarre to see Balenciaga without a window display, Bulgari behind primitive wooden barricades and Ritz and Costes without doormen, who have been replaced with ironbars .

The only cars, apart from ambulances, police cars and the odd private car, driven by a driver with facemask inside his own car, are UPS and FedEx . There are not, yet, restrictions of what they can deliver and the postman is still a valued sight in the mornings, but it might become restricted, as factories and distributioncenters close down .

Fast fashion shops are closed in UK today, why UK is one week behind the rest of Europe, will be asked to be accounted for, later by the British public . Most of them still have online shops, but for how long ? How long can it be considered necessary to shop for the latest, cheap, trendy item ?

Will it ever become relevant again ? Or are we learning, the hard way, by a confined homestay, to wear what we already have and do we, as a matter of fact, already have something that is wearable ?

Will this horrible pandemic of vira ( Iceland have proved 40 new mutations of Covid-19, today ) impact our shopping forever ?

At the moment, the uncertainty and fear overshadows everything and I might be considered cynical and superficial, because I think of shopping, but shopping is as much a part of me as my fear. I am so paranoid that when a elderly man had a little cough when he passed me, across the street, I immediately reached inside my bag for my hand sanitizer . But it was in my vintage Prada bag, as designer vintage is my hobby, my passion and in times like this, something comforting and wellknown . I can`t watch the news more than once a day, I listen to opera and search the internet for fashion history and find solace in pictures of beautiful creations and rigid attention to craftsmanship and details .

Sometimes, I give in for the quick fix of fast fashion, and I am not or by far, wealthy enough to buy my leggings at Dior, when H&M makes the colour and size I want, but as one of my projects for this period ( that could last maybe up to a year, as there is no logical solution or enough money, that can help the worlds total population once and for all ) is to sort out my wardrobe, I might find that I will never need to buy any piece of fast fashion again .

These surreal and epic times will, perhaps, lead others than me, to the same conclusion, that if we want to, seriously help the planet ( not in Meghan Markle style, when she gives her Miss America speeches, but actually help the planet ) we will have to appreciate what we already have and what is already there . The world economic is proper fucked and with it, most of us, that don`t own hedge funds or even shares, but every single one with an average job and income to match . So maybe, it will not even be an option to get a fast fashion fix, but instead we will have to create an individual style and save for a long time, to be able to buy that designer vintage jacket, that will emphasize our style and complement the old H&M leggings that we found in the bottom of the cupboard ( still with tags, anyone ? ) and we will learn to admire and appreciate the quality of classic tailoring and craftsmanship, who knows, we might even learn to care for our items and get alterations done, when the small tailor shops reopen .

For now, it is time for reflection and to make an effort to inspire others to find solace and some sort of meaning in chaos and to be allowed to dream of the happier times that are certain to come back .

 

Helena Hamilton

Paris 26.03.2020

photo copyright : Place Vendome, Paris, networkvintage.com Helena Hamilton

Helena Hamilton, Vintage Gurus, based in Paris, clients everywhere.

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Copyright, photo copyright : Helena Hamilton, Vintage Gurus.