There's been something really interesting going on in fashion over the course of this decade. It's been summed up by some as the preeminence of stylists over designers. A trend which emerged back in 2002 was that a group of star stylists - people like Katie Grand - were having this huge influence on fashion week by styling multiple shows.
Carrie's looks in Sex and the City also played a part in defining a new spirit in fashion, which made a definitive move beyond the designer label era. Fashionable suddenly became creating and curating your own unique look - mixing in new purchases with vintage items and unique or custom made accessories. An editor from the teenage version of Elle told me that when she started on magazines ten years ago, all the letters she got where from people wanting to be fashion designers or models, but that now most of the people she heard from aspired to be stylists.
This stems in part from growing consumer confidence - which you can see across a whole host of areas, not just fashion, but interiors, travel, food and others. Those at the cutting edge might create totally new clothes, but for most people adding their own touch to something they buy is as far as they want to go, and this is why they customize.
Self-expression is a big part of the customization trend - note the book in American Eagle where you take pictures of your creation and add them to the book to show others. Consumers are hungry for ways of demonstrating individuality - whether through original creations or limited editions. Mass customization sits somewhere between the two in terms of the level of creativity involved. You follow a broad trend - for vintage, for a certain style of T shirt, for jeans - but you give it your own twist. The broad trend is the "mass" part and the personal twist is the "customization" part.
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