Days of designer diktat numbered

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — The days of big-brand designer domination are numbered, with fashionistas now poised to go for the different, the exceptional, and the ethical, says one of the world's leading fashion gurus.

"Buying something just because it's in fashion is a thing of the past," said Jean-Jacques Picart, 61-year-old consultant for the world's most powerful luxury firm, LVMH, plus a bevy of other brands.

"Modest glory is the way ahead," he added. "People want what is different."

In his office on Paris' oh so fashionable Rue St Honore, a prime piece of real estate done out in chocolates and greys with orchids, photographs and mementoes from far-off places, Picart muses over the last 20 years of life on the world's fashion planet.

"We have entered an era...