How Brooklyn, Kylie & Barbie are changing the fashion world

A new universe is being reshuffled. It’s the fashion world. It’s adjusting itself to the future. A new generation is taking the lead.

Take Brooklyn Beckham, almost 17, son of David and Victoria.

He posts fabulous pictures in black and white on his instagram account. Burberry chose him to work on pictures for their next campaign. The old world didn’t agree on this choice and professional photographers didn’t really appreciate this move.

A large number disagree on the role of this new generation of “sons and daughters of”. Brooklyn Beckham, Lily-Rose Depp or Kendall Jenner (in particular those three) have something different and precious that others don’t have, a certain way of looking at things with an amazing maturity on our era, and that mainly because of their public exposure and their fame.

They are clever enough to use it and have created a professional life, a privileged one I must say, that hits high ceiling thanks to their online platforms. And to go along with the immediacy of this numeric era, with the likes of Brooklyn, Lily-Rose and Kendall who have million of followers, the fashion industry changed its routine.

Reinventing fashion

Starting September 2016, Burberry will reinvent the fashion show concept. Only two shows per year, men and women altogether, summer/winter mixed and everything available immediately online or in store. Why? To seduce this same generation of Brooklyns, Lily-Roses or Kendalls all over the world.

This is not surprising. Fashion has always been by instinct, by definition a trendsetter. These post-adolescents are the pioneers of a hyper connected future, different and inventive.

Not all brands and companies agree on this new modality. François-Henri Pinault chief executive officer of Gucci-owner Kering SA insisted that this new way “negates the dream of luxury” and firmly believes that “making consumers wait as long as six months to buy a collection creates desire.” The debate is still on.

On the other hand the new world, with its various platforms and technologies and the rise of e-commerce and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram has been a great help to young labels. This all enables them to connect directly with consumers; putting the brand out there, bypassing middlemen like department stores, boutiques and other wholesale partners.

This allows them to have higher gain margins, and to be directly in touch with their clients and use this precious data. But things are not as easy as six years ago. The web is getting crowded and it’s getting more difficult to attract customers. It's up to growing brands and marketers to uncover new techniques that work during this transitional time.

Even Barbie is taking part in this renewed world!

Since 1959, Barbie had a surreal frame (95-45-82) with a winning combo (blue eyes, light skin, and blond hair). That was before January 28th2016 and the Fashionista collection. From now on, we have the normal, petite, big and chubby. Along with seven shades of skin, twenty two eyes colors, twenty four kinds of hair…Barbie is adapting to the new world and its wide range of populations. Dolls now can look like real people and kids can have dolls that look like them.

In 1959, being blond and American was a universal dream. It’s not the case anymore. The US has a black president, curvy stars like Kim Kardashian and a mixed population. And representing all this diversity is a sensitive matter. The world is changing and like Barbie, the fashion world is adapting.