The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever

Teri Agins

BookHigh SchoolFashion Designer

About

A solid, hard-hitting, and uncompromising journalistic look at the fashion industry.

The time when "fashion" was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers and creativity is channeled more into mass-marketing clothes than into designing them. Indeed, one need look no further than the Gap to see proof of this. In The End of Fashion, Wall Street Journal, reporter Teri Agins astutely explores this seminal change, laying bare all aspects of the fashion industry from manufacturing, retailing, anmd licensing to image making and financing. Here as well are fascinating insider vignettes that show Donna Karan fighting with financiers,the rivalry between Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, and the commitment to haute conture that sent Isaac Mizrahi's business spiraling.

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Why it’s great

Wall Street Journal reporter Agins unpacks how marketing, mass retailers, and technology upended haute couture. Case studies of Armani, Gap, and fast fashion teach readers to track trends and consumer psychology. Sharp analysis shows why creativity must pair with commerce to thrive. Ideal for teens considering both design and merchandising careers.