As the fashion world draws a collective gasp of, "holyshitdidhereallysaythat!?", Mark Kitson remains nonplussed. The branding expert has done the seemingly blasphemous and declared Chanel as being tired and "dusty" in the latest issue of Marketing Week.

"Of all the criticisms you can level at a luxury brand, dusty is perhaps the most devilish. The great luxury brands are unusual in that they are much older than the clients they currently target. For each to survive must practice the art of constant brand revitalisation - a delicate process in which centuries of heritage is carefully balanced with contemporary rule breaking. Should a luxury brand ever slow down in the latter category, it rapidly becomes dusty."

Now for a while Chanel have been the paradigm of effectively straddling the moneyed-ladies-wot-lunch vs youthful markets but TRR can see Kitson's point. Not only backed up by the facts Chanel have lost 11% of their brand value and refused to aggressively push their Chinese market, just a cursory glance at their horrendously hirsute A/W '10/'11 collection confirms Karl may be clutching at straws to remain en pointe. I mean, who in the holy hell wants to look like the freaking back end of a pantomime horse?

Mind you, Uncle K don't give a shit as his elderly corpse is currently sucking the adolescence of his muse, Baptiste Giabiconi in St Tropez  like the youth vampire he is. Go Karl!

Posted on August 14, 2010 at 10:49:49 by The Real Runway