Dalla panchina di un marciapiede di New York : un`occhiata disinteressata alla proposta moda per uomo a fine 2011

Happy thanksgiving !!!!
Sono sopravvissuto anche quest`anno al per me malefico rito del tacchino ! Con i miei amici italiani di NY ci siamo seduti a tavola ieri pomeriggio alle 2.30 e ci siamo alzati esattamente 5 ore piu` tardi ! 

Turkey Italian style ( Bravo Roberto )

(neanche al  matrimonio di William e Kate saremmo rimasti cosi` a lungo ).


Comunque , lasciando da parte il tacchino e i bicchieri di vino ( ottimo ) che mi sono gustato , oggi vi scrivo riguardo un articolo sulla attuale proposta moda per l`uomo,  che mi ha fatto davvero riflettere ! 


Parecchi anni fa ,una delle canzoni di Battisti che andava per la maggiore diceva :
Confusione, , confusione , mi dispiace ....  se sei figlia della solita illusione e se fai confusione ...confusione !

A distanza di trentanni , questa canzone  , potrebbe essere la colonna sonora del 2011 del mondo del fashion . Il settore infatti , non e` mai stato cosi` confuso come negli ultimi anni , o  meglio , coloro i quali ci lavorano , non hanno decisamente ancora capito cosa sia successo un paio di anni fa . Continuano ad annaspare inconsciamente in balia dei loro BB o Iphones,   alla ricerca  dell`araba fenice , non riconoscendo ( o per incapacita` o per comodita` ) che le cose non sono piu` come prima.
E` sotto gli occhi di tutte le persone con un quoziente intellettuale normale  ( come lo scrivente )  , che la crisi economica che sta tuttora imperversando nei mercati di tutto il mondo, ha di fatto spaccato in maniera netta i consumatori .
Da un lato  quelli che possono permettersi il cosiddetto "lusso"  , e dall`altro , quelli che possono permettersi al massimo una canottiera da 9 $ da H&M o le rimanenze dei prodotti rimasti invenduti nei negozi di immagine ( negli outlets , le persone che rovistano in mucchi di merce oramai "avariata" assomigliano sempre di piu` ai cinesi o agli homeless che vedo nelle strade di New York  rovistare nei bidoni della spazzatura per recuperare le bottigliette di plastica a  qualche avanzo di cibo  e la % di questi " sfigati del fashion " credo sia intorno al 98% dei consumatori ).


Al centro il nulla ( un po` come i politici  italiani  del cosiddetto centro ;-) ). 


E` chiaro  , che quella che solo pochi anni fa era considerata la fascia media del mercato e` stata spazzata via dallo Tsunami economico del 2008 . 
Ricordo , che nelle mie riunioni di marketing di qualche anno fa , ogniqualvolta si parlava di mercato , veniva disegnata sulla lavagna , la famosa piramide di Maslow che avrebbe dovuto spiegare i bisogni dei consumatori  ( e`stata di sicuro applicata anche agli studi sulla curvatura  delle zucchine ).

Oggi invece, dopo i disastri economici che siamo riusciti a creare e  di cui le societa` cosiddette avanzate ne pagheranno i costi per  parecchi anni  , la piramide di cui sopra e` diventata una clessidra di forma irregolare . 

Nella parte sotto,  si posizionera` il 90% dei consumatori , mentre il rimanente 10 % sara` nella parte alta  .A tal proposito,il  professor Vanni Codeluppi  (sociologo all`universita` di Modena e Reggio Emilia ) osserva  che questo fenomeno che spacca in due, altissimo e basso, quasi cancellando tutto ciò che sta in mezzo e` globale .

Del resto, se trent’anni fa il 10 per cento della popolazione deteneva il 30 per cento del reddito complessivo mentre oggi ne possiede il 45 per cento, è logico che beni e merci ne siano influenzati.

Lo hanno capito tutti , ad eccezione dei managers del fashion.

Vi lascio , con un articolo apparso ieri sul NYT riguardo Barneys NY ,  una delle icone mondiali  del settore "fashion" .Qualsiasi azienda al mondo che produce abbigliamento  e relativi accessori come scarpe e borse,  vogliono avere i loro prodotti esposti in questo department store ,  alla fine pero`camminando tra i suoi spazi espositivi  come diceva il grande Lucio,  la confusione regna sovrana! 

CRITICAL SHOPPER

Enduring but Confusing at Barneys                     continuo ad andare da Barneys ma non capisco  (a chi vogliono vendere ) 

Yana Paskova for The New York Times

By JON CARAMANICA

Published: November 22, 2011

POP quiz: who’s more stylish, Usher or Cuba Gooding Jr.?

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Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Only Barneys New York holds the answers to such esoterica. It’s the level playing field of fashion, appealing to magnates and celebrities and tourists alike, a brand that, for all its overreaching of recent years, remains remarkably durable.

Under the guidance of the chief executive, Mark Lee, who was hired last year, Barneys is updating its men’s-wear offerings, hoping to restore its place of privilege for emerging designers and styles, beginning with the redesigned Co-Op.

The old Co-Op was the Grand Central Terminal of aspirational retail, a scrum of high and low, luxe and ham-handed hip. It was as close as Barneys got to a glam shopping experience, and it could be blinding.

But there’s little remarkable about the new Co-Op space, wide and long and inconsistently lighted, with stomach-level racks stuffed full of clothes that, from afar, look half black. Colors appear like oxygen tanks on icy mountaintops, badly needed and hard to come by. A Co-Op cafe, Genes @ Co-Op, looks like the situation room from “24,” each seat matched to a screen embedded into a long communal table. You’d maybe send your 7-year-old there to distract him as you try on Stone Island coats.

Into this mush walked Usher (looking lumpy, it must be said), who was quickly surrounded by a constellation of sales associates, following him from rack to rack as he selected things to take home. “He loves fabrics,” someone told me later. Maybe then he was excited to see sweat pants in a range of materials, from Alexander Wang’s black leather to Opening Ceremony’s heavy rustic wool. For real sweating, those pants.

In places, the Co-Op is still the store’s nexus of forward thinking: killer Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons pieces, including a raspy brown argyle shirt with blue sleeves ($915); a long, rumpled horror-film-worthy black coat by Silent by Damir Doma ($1,340), or an appealingly slouchy alpaca sweater by Patrik Ervell ($350).

Now on the eighth floor, the Co-Op has never felt less connected to the rest of the store. Step down onto the untrammeled seventh floor, with its green cashmere Regent sport coats ($3,095), seas of Incotex trousers and a tribute display to Gianni Agnelli’s favorite suit, and it feels as if you’ve left a messy attic for the part of the house father frequents.

On six, it’s where father’s cooler brother hangs out, maybe in the Etro purple, yellow and brown gingham blazer ($1,450), the purple Valentini corduroys, or the rich brown Armani sport coat ($1,395) that, over a series of visits to the store, earned its way into my closet.

Those floors, six and seven, are unambiguous. The Co-Op is supposed to be similarly certain, but it isn’t. Instead, the store’s third and fourth floors are its secret weapons, its progressive soul on display without youth-baiting baggage.

On four, newish lines were impressive, especially Inis Meain, with its inventive Donegal sweaters, or Scout Original, with its bold Cowichan caricatures ($1,250). In the corner, a glut of John Varvatos looked like an old man still dressing in leather and wet with Grecian Formula. In another, oodles of James Perse hung like limp rags.

Downstairs on three, a beige Duckie Brown cashmere coat — belted, not buttoned — was erotically soft ($4,225). It would have looked phenomenal with the nuclear fallout boots (color: “dirty black”) by Alexandre Plokhov ($1,395), or over the beige and white shawl V-neck sweater by Alexander McQueen ($795). Off on one side were Raf Simons, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten: in a dream world, this is usually what I’m dressed in.

Just downstairs, on the shiny glass-and-metal second floor, with its Italian designers and a sense of recklessness in the air, things got tough on the eyes once again; a whole column could be devoted to the glittering fuchsia mock-neck by Prada ($860), a refugee from a costumer’s closet. Better was the ground floor, with the promising collection by Piombo, one of the store’s latest additions, especially the burnt red pants, or the beefy green car coat ($1,095). (Best to ignore the casual-wear from brands that should stick to suits — denim from Kiton and Brioni, say.)

What you forget about Barneys is that it’s a department store. Barneys is for everyone: for the sad-looking gentleman sheepishly asking to try on a pair of velvet Louboutin slippers with patent leather toes ($995); for the overly tanned, slightly balding 40-something guy trying on slick, tight coats over his skinny jeans; for the older fellow eyeing Berlutis on the ground floor; for the woman who stepped out of the elevator on eight and chirped, “Is this the jeans floor?”

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Yana Paskova for The New York Times

The staff is ubiquitous, and extremely helpful, likely because so many customers appear to be in need of so much help, with money to spend and the sincere hope that someone will tell them how to do it.

On the fourth floor, as I was salivating over a navy Nigel Cabourn coat with a bottom half made of Harris tweed, I saw a customer who needed no such assistance. In a sharp blue puffy vest and perfectly fitting jeans, he was walking purposefully but regretfully toward the elevator, telling his friend how much he loved that one jacket, but the fit just wasn’t quite right.

He looked back over his shoulder a couple of times as if to reconsider, but Cuba Gooding Jr. knew perfectly well that if it didn’t fit well now, it wouldn’t fit well later, and so he left, empty-handed and immaculate.

Barneys New York

660 Madison Avenue, (212) 826-8900;barneys.com.

HORSE, MEET WATER You can change the store, but you can’t necessarily change who comes through the doors. Barneys still serves many constituencies, and gaining customers at the leading edge doesn’t yet mean sacrificing those bringing up the rear.

HIGH AND DRY As a brand extension, Co-Op is a savvy move, but the new version is no less chaotic than the old one. There’s no narrative, just clothes that tease with lower prices and stranger fabrics (if you’re lucky).

DESERT OASIS Ignore the top and bottom of the store and gun straight for the middle: the third and fourth floors are full of imaginative and beautiful clothes that don’t pander.