Hello, Open Thread. Happy National Wine and Cheese Day. And happy 50th birthday to Giorgio Armani the brand, which was founded a half-century ago yesterday. That’s something. I don’t know about you, but my social media feeds have been jammed with “The Devil Wears Prada 2” commentary this week. The movie has started filming in New York, and Anne Hathaway had been snapped wearing a few looks, including an airy Gabriela Hearst maxi dress in a stained-glass print with a bucket hat; a pinstriped vest and matching trousers sorta suit (no brand has claimed that one yet); blue coveralls and a Valentino bag; and a long denim skirt with a white tank top and another vest. Don’t ask about the vests. I don’t know what that’s about. What I can tell you is that Meryl Streep, in a thin silk trench, lavender blouse and brown leather pencil skirt looks very stealth wealth. Molly Rogers, who worked on the first film as well as “Sex and the City” and all its sequels, is the costume designer according to the Internet Movie Database. She comes from the Pat Field school of dressing, which may best be described as exaggerated reality. (No assistants ever dressed like Andy Sachs or were allowed to borrow so liberally from any fashion closet. Now that she is grown up, presumably she buys her clothes, albeit at a pretty hefty designer discount.) In any case, the point of all this seems less about character arc — it’s too early for the costumes to reveal any spoilers — and more about Hollywood marketing strategy. These fashion shots are pretty effective ways to grab attention, one of today’s most valuable commodities. Remember all the talk about Lady Gaga’s look in “House of Gucci,” with Adam Driver in his white cable-knit turtleneck? Or pretty much every absurd Sarah Jessica Parker outfit in “And Just Like That …”? Or the recent outcry about how Ryan Murphy’s coming J.F.K. Jr./C.B.K. mini-series has it all wrong — based on the sneakers, hair color and skirts of Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy? In a best-case scenario, this gets people talking about the movie long before there’s anything to see (even if not always in a good way), which should make them more interested in going to the final product. Anticipation, and all that, as Carly Simon sang of Heinz. It’s like the prequel to the red carpet character-fashion rollout, as perfected by Margot Robbie for “Barbie.” The downside is that sometimes, as with “Gucci,” it turns out that the fashion is the most exciting part. Another highly effective fashion strategy was on display last week during the W.N.B.A. All-Star Game, when all the players appeared wearing the same slogan tees during their warm-up. You know, the ones that said “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” The message, of course, has to do with the new contract negotiations in which the league has been engaged and the shockingly low wages women players, even superstar women players, make at a time when interest in the league has never been higher, or growth faster. Pro athletes have been using their clothing to make a point for a while — W.N.B.A. players wore T-shirts bearing Breonna Taylor’s name in 2020 after she was killed by a policeman and Brittney Griner tees when Ms. Griner was being held in Russia — but this seemed like a new level of image-making. It shouldn’t be a surprise, really, that as athletes get more comfortable using fashion as a billboard for themselves, they also get more comfortable using it as a literal billboard. Think about that. Then consider the style legacy of Ozzy Osbourne, who died this week; find out why this really is a Pucci girl summer; and check out the latest collection from Phoebe Philo. It’s a doozy. And have a good, safe weekend. Use sunscreen!
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Your Style Questions, AnsweredEvery week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
Recently I’ve been hearing a lot about labor abuses in the luxury industry. Last week Loro Piana was placed under court administration after a subcontractor was accused of creating sweatshop conditions. Why is this happening? Is there a way to buy interesting and creative clothes and be sure they’re coming from a good source? — Abigail, Alameda, Calif.Ever since the 2013 disaster at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry, it has been impossible for anyone to deny knowing that there is a labor crisis in the modern fashion world. It is one that prioritizes the constant production of more and cheaper stuff over the safety and livelihoods of many of the people employed to make that stuff. Since then, a variety of laws and private agreements have been put in place to supposedly change this reality, but in fact every year seems to bring new revelations about fashion brands being caught for working with manufacturers that enforce sweatshop conditions. Once upon a time these revelations centered primarily on fast-fashion or mass-fashion brands working with factories far overseas, but lately, as you point out, they have also come from luxury houses that are working with factories in Italy. Brands like Dior, Armani, Valentino, Montblanc and Loro Piana have all gotten in trouble because of factories operating in Italy with abusive conditions. Often the factories that have been subcontracted by factories the luxury brands officially employ, though similar stories have been made public since the release of the 2007 documentary “Luxury Slaves.” This is particularly jarring, because for years luxury brands justified their high price tags by referencing the quality of both the materials and the labor and know-how involved in creating their products. The implication was that part of what you were paying for was the security that what you were buying was made in a responsible way, by people who were fairly paid for their expertise. This is why “Made in Italy” and “Made in France” became synonyms for “Made well.” Not anymore. These days, policing supply chains can feel like playing Whac-a-Mole. As soon as one bad actor is exposed, another one pops up. If you want to know how bad it is, check out the investigations of an NGO called Transparentem that is focused on stopping modern slavery. It has looked into the supply chains of more than 100 apparel companies. So what’s a consumer to do? It’s not enough to check to see if a brand claims to demand a code of conduct by their suppliers. The only way a brand can ensure that a factory abides by the rules is to fully own it. And while brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermès do, many companies also contract out to factories that sometimes then subcontract. A lot of them, it turns out, don’t have complete pictures of where their products are made. As luxury has spread, the fashion supply chain has become ever more far-flung and complicated. Often single factories cannot produce the quantities demanded to ensure growth. As sales slow and consumers rebel against the constantly rising prices of handbags and cashmere coats, companies have to increase their profit, and some have done it by paying less on the back end. Indeed, Ben Skinner, the founder of Transparentum, recommends looking at a 2023 benchmarking study conducted by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and KnowTheChain, which, he said, “found that many luxury brands scored poorly, with brands such as Burberry, Ferragamo, LVMH (owner of Loro Piana) and Prada ranking near the bottom.” In the end, the safest approach for those looking for certainty about how their clothes are made would be to think small and local. Companies like Alabama Chanin offer clothes handmade by artisans in the community, using cotton sourced, ginned and dyed by onshore mills. It’s the fashion equivalent of “know your own food.” The products are more expensive because of it, but it may be a taste worth acquiring.
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