Well, there certainly seems to be a lot of hoo-har around the "relaunch" of Ossie Clark label in the fashion world, some great blogs ahve been written about the situation, so I thought i'd throw my tuppenny's worth in.
It was announced this week Debenhams would be selling newly designed Ossie Clark dresses via concessions from February of next year.
This is not the first time Ossie has been unceremoniously resurrected; in 2008 Marc Worth, co-founder of WGSN bought the name and relaunched the label at London Fashion Week.
Rightly or wrongly, Avsh Alom Gur (the creative director for Worth) did try and create some semblance of Ossie's original designs in the short time the label existed, which seems to be somewhat lacking in the Debenham's range. See exhibit A...
At Scarlet Vintage we have plenty of 70's dresses brought in that have been made in the "Ossie style". Admittedly, they generally don't come close to his original designs, but as buying patterns and dressmaking was so popular throughout the 60's and 70's, you can usually find something which resembles the great man's work in the shop, even if you can't afford one of his originals. The likelihood of seeing the same dress elsewhere is close to zero, the fabric and fittings will all be of the same era, the garment will have aged like an Ossie and you'll be wearing something authentically vintage. So, surely, if you want a piece of the Ossie magic, and you can't afford an original, you're better off getting something authentically "of the time" even if it's not "of the designer"?
Here's a couple of our vintage dresses that we currently have in stock that will give you that authentic 1970's silhouette and cost a lot less than the £189 price point of the Debenham's range.
I guess this sort of sits at the crux of the whole "vintage" or "vintage inspired" argument, which crops up again and again. Big retailers are losing customers to the vintage/second hand scene and their regular cry of "Keep buying new! That is SO last season!!" seems to be falling on deaf ears as more and more people start to realise that that way madness/poverty lies. The multinational retailers have to find new ways of keeping their deserting customers spending £££ with them, and so they look at copying areas that are booming on the fashion scene, ie vintage. But people are becoming wise to this and this latest attempt at "cashing in" on the vintage scene only highlights their desperation. I mean, honestly, how did they ever think they could compete with something as beautiful as this...
It was announced this week Debenhams would be selling newly designed Ossie Clark dresses via concessions from February of next year.
This is not the first time Ossie has been unceremoniously resurrected; in 2008 Marc Worth, co-founder of WGSN bought the name and relaunched the label at London Fashion Week.
Rightly or wrongly, Avsh Alom Gur (the creative director for Worth) did try and create some semblance of Ossie's original designs in the short time the label existed, which seems to be somewhat lacking in the Debenham's range. See exhibit A...
(Ossie Clark at Debenhams....hmm, what's that underground spinning I can hear...?.)
At Scarlet Vintage we have plenty of 70's dresses brought in that have been made in the "Ossie style". Admittedly, they generally don't come close to his original designs, but as buying patterns and dressmaking was so popular throughout the 60's and 70's, you can usually find something which resembles the great man's work in the shop, even if you can't afford one of his originals. The likelihood of seeing the same dress elsewhere is close to zero, the fabric and fittings will all be of the same era, the garment will have aged like an Ossie and you'll be wearing something authentically vintage. So, surely, if you want a piece of the Ossie magic, and you can't afford an original, you're better off getting something authentically "of the time" even if it's not "of the designer"?
Here's a couple of our vintage dresses that we currently have in stock that will give you that authentic 1970's silhouette and cost a lot less than the £189 price point of the Debenham's range.
I guess this sort of sits at the crux of the whole "vintage" or "vintage inspired" argument, which crops up again and again. Big retailers are losing customers to the vintage/second hand scene and their regular cry of "Keep buying new! That is SO last season!!" seems to be falling on deaf ears as more and more people start to realise that that way madness/poverty lies. The multinational retailers have to find new ways of keeping their deserting customers spending £££ with them, and so they look at copying areas that are booming on the fashion scene, ie vintage. But people are becoming wise to this and this latest attempt at "cashing in" on the vintage scene only highlights their desperation. I mean, honestly, how did they ever think they could compete with something as beautiful as this...
xx
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