Fashion Stays Still

She pauses at the end of her purposeful march, a thigh thrust forward, a hand on a jutting hip, smiling at last as the flashes crackle around her like summer lightning. When she has given her audience what they came for, she swivels imperiously, flinging a contemptuous vestige of inaccessibility in their direction, before marching just as determinedly back to the oxygen-starved planet where only models, fashion designers and billionaires live.

For many consumers, the model's short stroll is the first image that springs to mind at the mention of the word 'fashion'. The runway show - with its combination of creativity, glamour and artifice - is one of the elements that drive us, again and again, to buy clothes we don't really need. It's difficult to think of an industry that does not have recourse to marketing in one form or another, but only fashion has such an overbearing reliance on it. When clothes leave the factories where they are made, they are merely 'garments' or 'apparel'. Only when the marketers get hold of them do they magically become 'fashion'.

There is nothing trivial about fashion. Although there is little con-sensus on the figure, it is estimated that the amount spent on clothing and footwear around the world tops US$1 trillion a year. According to Verdict Research, the global luxury goods market is likely to be worth US$450 billion by 2012. Fashion and leather goods account for the largest proportion of the sector, followed by perfumes and cosmetics, which are usually sold under the licensed names of fashion designers. Watches and jewellery take care of the rest. This vast industry is driven by a number of highly sophisticated marketing and branding techniques, which are well worth dissecting.

People will go to extreme lengths to consume fashion. Not so long ago, there was a clutch of articles about kids being mugged - even killed - for their sports shoes. While I was researching this book, an uncharacteristically sensationalist article in the French newspaper Le Figaro suggested that teenage girls were selling their bodies to raise enough cash to satisfy their addiction to fashion. On a less dramatic scale, few teenagers are unaware of the importance of the right brand, in the right colour, worn in the right way. And, as we're all teenagers these days, adults are becoming just as obsessive. The caprices of fashion are both exasperating and alluring. Its alchemy is mysterious. Most people, even if they refuse to be seduced by it, are intrigued by fashion. If I hadn't written this book, I'd certainly want to read it.

The book owes a lot to the real fashion experts - the consultants and academics who are constantly monitoring the industry. I was aided by the fact that I live in Paris, which still sees itself as the capital of fashion. The French regard fashion in much the same way as the British see soccer - it is a national obsession. There is an unapologetically Francophile thread running through these pages, and I would argue that my location gave me access to books and articles that my Anglo-Saxon readers might not have seen.

I did not stay put, though - far from it. Although Paris and London were my main hunting grounds, my task also took me to Milan, Molvena, Stockholm, Galicia and Hong Kong. That was just the physical sphere of my activity. Via e-mail and telephone, I travelled to New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, too. Fashion brands, like fashion trends, do not allow borders to get in their way.

Fashion design may be an ephemeral business, but it is a complex and endlessly fascinating one. How does one turn a mere 'garment' into fashion merchandising with seemingly mystical transformative powers of fashion trends? Well, let's hear it from the experts.

Until recently, I considered myself almost immune to brands and their influence. I was certainly suspicious of designer brands that charged a fortune for their labels. I was convinced that their clothes were no better than those of any chain store. I scoffed when a well-known fashion journalist told me during the Paris collections, 'I have two jackets with me, one from Zara and one from Martin Margiela. The Margiela jacket was probably five times the price of the Zara one - but I don't mind, because I like what Margiela stands for. I'm paying for the person, not the article.' Fine, I thought, you do that. But I won't fall into the same trap. Then, a few months ago, I bought a pair of glasses. 'They're by Yves Saint Laurent,' said my optician. And, instead of yawning, I thought, 'Ah, yes - the pioneer of prêt-à-porter in Europe.'

Working on this book enhanced my respect for fashion designers, past and present. There cannot be many creative professions in which you are expected to prove your talent with a large body of work at least every six months. In addition, many designers are involved not only with their own collections but also with those of other brands. Certainly, they have large design teams working alongside them - to imagine otherwise would be absurd - but they are the ones who take the flack if the press reception is chilly.