Is fast fashion going out of fashion?

Well at least Suzy Menkes thinks so

Whooooah! Slow down! Rein in the galloping madness! No – it’s not the economy or financial woes, although Intidex, the parent company of Zara did announce last week a fall in profits in the second quarter, slowing down its apparently unstoppable rise.

It is just time, after seven wild years, to say Basta! to fast fashion.

As a phenomenon, speedy style has given a shake up to the industry and brought the look of the moment to main street, with the collaboration of leading designers. It has proved that fashion does not have to be elitist and that big names are as capable of creating cheap chic as haute couture.

But, as with all things fashionable, from kitten-heel mules to girly frills, there is a moment when it is over. And for fast fashion, that is now – or perhaps in November, when Comme des Garçons and the cerebral Rei Kawakubo embrace H&M.

It all started with Karl Lagerfeld at H&M four years ago, kicking off a media phenomenon, marking a seismic cultural shift and creating lines of eager shoppers in capital cities across the globe.

Since then we have had the unpronounceable Proenza Schouler suddenly hitting billboards throughout America with their Target collaboration. H&M has ratcheted up a roster of designers, from Roberto Cavalli to Viktor & Rolf. Topshop of London has increased its long-term designer collaborations (Celia Birtwell, Zandra Rhodes, etc.) by presenting the super-cool model Kate Moss as design star. And just this month, the products that the Parisian boutique Colette produced with Gap sold like hot croissants in New York.

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Yet Another British Invasion

so be warned

Things may be tough enough for a lot of American retail chains, but maybe that’s the best time for foreign invaders to strike. British retail sensation Topshop is invading our shores as we speak, having already launched a U.S. e-commerce website as it plans for its first U.S. store (in New York), which is set to debut in the next couple months.

There has been a lot of buzz about Topshop — owned by privately held Arcadia Group — prior to its official U.S. arrival. It’s a player in what’s known as the “fast fashion” category, which also includes Spain’s Zara, Sweden’s H&M (OTC BB: HMRZF.PK), as well as Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe (Nasdaq: CHIC).

These companies come out with high-fashion pieces with lightning speed, at low or medium price points. Shoppers often snap up the limited-quantity goods, and the quick turnover of items encourages them to stop in frequently. These retailers are adept at nimble turnaround and some choose to manufacture apparel close to home to save time to market. Talk about a wake-up call for less nimble fashion retailers across the board.

Topshop has a Kate Moss line to speak for it, too; the supermodel is a business partner with Topshop head Sir Philip Green. (Similarly, H&M has had collections linked to celebrities like Madonna and Stella McCartney.)

This wouldn’t be the first time a “British invasion” could be perceived as a competitive challenge for American retailers. Britain’s Tesco’s small-scale encroachment onto U.S. soil has been viewed as possibly significant for retailers as different from one another as Wal-Mart and Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI); both have experimented with small, nimble stores, possibly at least partly in response to Tesco’s entry.

A single U.S. store for Topshop — albeit in a U.S. fashion mecca — may not seem like a big deal in the retail landscape, but I think the website is, since many fashion-minded American women have probably been waiting eagerly for Topshop. This could prove a competitive challenge not only to similar retailers, but also to hip retailers like Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN), American Apparel (NYSE: APP), and Target (NYSE: TGT). (On the other end of the spectrum, maybe the landscape looks even more depressing for perennial strugglers like Gap (NYSE: GPS)).

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The neck’s big thing: necklaces

if you fancy necklaces,you should read this article

While Planet Fashion’s obsession with prefixing every autumn/winter item with the word “statement” (as in dress/coat/shoe) is undeniably irritating, there’s something rather appealing about the “statement necklace” that is creeping into the style vernacular. Partly because – and I live in hope here – it may mean the imminent death of bondage platform heels in all their multiple strap/spike and studded glory, yet also because, in these straitened times, there’s no more democratic way to update your wardrobe than slinging on a £20 wooden-and-plastic-disc choker. Nor, I should point out, as much fun.

The neck was last a focal point during the mid-Eighties, when girls in pearls reigned and costume jewellery mostly comprised naff, paste baubles. The good news about the necklace’s reincarnation is that there are plenty of avenues to be explored. After something bold, chunky and with a reassuringly noisy clunk? Well look to Lanvin, or at least Lanvin-inspired jewellery. At Balenciaga, gutsy, Dynasty-style, bling chokers replaced bags as what fashion folk like to call the “must-have accessory”, while at Givenchy, girls were laden down in threads of gold and silver chains.

Whatever you choose, the advantages of this trend are tenfold. With all this activity going on around your neck, no one is going to be checking out the ply-content of your cashmere poloneck, thereby obviating the need to fork out on lots of expensive clothes. And don’t underestimate its power to utterly transform an outfit. Averyl Oates, the buying director of Harvey Nichols, points out that an oversize necklace is the best way of lifting all that black and the gothic mood that is prevalent this season.

If you are looking to buy something special, a great neck-piece makes a good investment, something that can be pulled out of the wardrobe year after year. Another point to consider is that costume jewellery is so well made and designed these days that it’s often hard to tell the difference between something that came from Topshop and the designer, upwards-of-£600 variety.

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Fashion spotter: the scout mistress

Maybe one of the best jobs

It is Ellis’s job to prowl the nation’s high streets in the hope of spotting the next face of fashion. No easy feat. Neither is convincing Mum and Dad that she is for real. Will Storr joins the hunt

Neon lights, stale heat, guitar pop, and floors and floors of noisy, shoving, furious, grinding hassle. For anyone over 17, entering Topshop’s Oxford Street flagship store is like walking into a migraine. Not for Ellis. She moves through the racks as if in a bubble of calm, scanning the hundreds of young women with darting eyes, coming to the same conclusion each time: no, no, no. Not one of these girls has what it takes to be approached by the model scout from the London agency Independent.

	Fiona Ellis: model scout for the talent agency Independent

That does not stop the shop assistants trying to be spotted. Ellis, 44, has been doing this for 23 years – she says she was the first – and many of them seem well aware of her life-changing power. Almost every Topshop staff member caught within her orbit rearranges herself into the same stance – chest out, lips pout, chin up, straight back. ‘Oh, babe,’ Ellis says suddenly over a rack of sequined pop socks. ‘Nothing. Let’s try Selfridges.’

Ellis will go scouting twice a week and, despite the huge numbers of individuals she will see in a day, she will rarely approach more than three and hand them one of her matt-black business cards, the fashion equivalent of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.

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