The lines of fashion and luxury are getting blurred, or aren't they? The fashion icons are spending their resources on either side of the hanger: 1. a low price clothing retailer for the general consumers, and 2. big stores like Gap, Target, H&M, Dolce & Gabbana, Kohl’s, Christian Dior etc. where the market is totally different and the buyers generally belong to a specific élite. Fast fashion and luxury were once at opposite ends of a spectrum that were completely understood, but changing times have suggested that the new order is about to emerge.

On the flip side of the coin, there are also some designers who simply cannot tolerate the second string to their traditional methodologies of extraordinary craftsmanship, which obviously costs much more than the mainstream fashion, but they seem to have absolutely no problem with that. Their argument seems to be just, that in the eyes of affluent shoppers their prestige would be under the scanner.

Owning a designer outfit cannot be undermined and the marketing idea behind it to actually land a potential customer is an overhauling experience, but the true significance of luxury is somehow depleting. Luxury’s style was timeless, flawless and fast fashion’s ephemeral. It was expensive, still is, exclusive, tailored to fit, while this new thing is cheap, generic and generally mainstream. Their consumers wanted quality and that too for them only, exclusive meant since the fast fashion consumers just wanted things relevant to the party they 're going to, affordable and ready-to-wear items. “A woman’s dress should be a like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.” – Sophia Loren

There exists another question whether these mass designer labels and expensive clothes signify the designer’s talent and commitment, or is it just about making higher profit margins on the billions of dollars in sales? The designers also incline towards producing two ready-to-wear and two couture collections to meet the requirements of both the luxury and fast fashion consumers. Brands like Hourglass Angel have also captured the market as women seek to get that sexy waistline in order to fit in their expensive designer dresses. Designers have also increased the variety of products available in their online and physical stores and being better equipped helps them to face these challenges but that’s too much of work. Especially for high-profile designers who give priority to their incubation time than fashion shows to come up with something compact. Some of the very big names in the industry left prestigious positions because of the amount of work, pressure, and dozens of shows in a calendar year.

It will be a difficult task to keep the fine line visible if we are not dealing with satin piped seams and couture fabric to say the least and this fine line is increasingly getting blurred over the past decades. What about the geniuses of Madam Gres, Jean Patou, Jacques Fath, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, Madeleine Vionnet? These are all the names that strike our minds when a sense of compromise turns up since them at that day and age never compromised on anything. Is it very difficult to even imagine Capri pants for Target by MadamGres? The unparalleled elegance and luxe seem to have disappeared. Is this part of an era that is lost, forever?

Fashion, much like the world of entertainment also possesses the only minute number of designers that are one of their kinds. Oscar de la Renta, GeofferyBeene, and Yves St. Laurent come to mind. With the ever decreasing number, the industry might face the calamity of losing the real essence of luxury in fashion. “Clothes are like a good meal, a good movie, great pieces of music.” – Michael Kors

Richard Avedon, American fashion and portrait photographer’s exhibition at the museum of photography in New York City illustrated some of the sumptuous fabrics and exquisite shapes of the designs worn by Avedon’s muses and models. That was an era of elegance and class, nightclubs, balls, where wearing gemstones and pearls was like wearing jeans today and the luxury goods were only afforded and reserved for very specific élite aristocratic groups.

Why did such a splendid reign completely transform into this new more affordable luxury? Who do designers want to satisfy, their customers or their revenues? The ever long dubbed traditional luxuries were products of exemplary quality once, that held up through years and passed on to generations. We are talking about heirloom mentality here. In this new age, the attitude is that the item must be reasonable so that one isn’t worried about passing it on and the word luxury today is stuck with things having a designer label to it. The integrity that was clearly behind genuine luxury seems to have been lost or we have willingly let it go.

With no offense, the new luxury is offered to the middle-class, who quite willingly paid for the two and half a dollar of an immediately identifiable Starbucks Cup or a bottle of water that they saw on TV being advertised as if it was a French Perfume.

To penetrate into such an affluent market is a tough nut to crack but those who managed it made themselves available to enormous marketing opportunities, but there is an opportunity cost to any move you make, the diminishing aura of the designer’s prestige in this case.