Show notes
*SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row newsletter for more coverage like this: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Go Premium and save three months on an annual subscription.*Is fashion in the throes of a total creative collapse? Critic Eugene Rabkin — founder of StyleZeitgeist and author of the new book Torn: Fashion and Postmodernism — joins Amy to make the case. He argues luxury has "devolved into a consumerist spectacle," its lack of ideas papered over by relentless marketing.They get into the greedflation behind a $140,000 Dior dress, why "craftsmanship" is the industry's greatest con, the Italian sweatshop scandals that never seem to stick, how Bernard Arnault turned the fashion world into the fashion industry — and the death of criticism, and why nobody seems to care.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction02:30 Fashion's creative collapse: the thesis08:30 Greedflation & the $140,000 Dior dress13:00 The craftsmanship con 15:00 Sweatshop scandals: Dior & Loro Piana's vicuña23:30 The death of fashion criticism32:00 Bernard Arnault & how he industrialized fashion📺 SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row Newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe📷 Follow Back Row on Instagram: @backrow📷 Follow Amy on Instagram: @instamyodellFollow Eugene Rabkin📷 Follow Eugene on Instagram: @eugenerabkin📚 Buy the book: Torn: Fashion and PostmodernismThis episode was edited by Chrissi Harris. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.