The Fashion Businessin Singapore, Sydney, Warsaw, Rio, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Tokyo, Nicosia,
Johannesburg, or Moscow. Adidas, Nike and Hilfiger and the products of
their sportswear rivals also make appearances in youth magazines the world
over. Travel the world as we will, we come across the same logos everywhere.
So Chanel, Dior, Nike and Hilfiger rule one world of ‘designer’ consumption?
Perhaps, before all sense of reality is entirely lost in this analysis of the
consumption of ‘designer’ goods, we should remind ourselves of quite another
globalized reality – the ‘consumption’ of poverty. In early March 2000, a
BBC Radio 4 reporter described the plight of a victim of the Mozambique
floods. On returning to what remained of her devastated home, all the victim
of the deluge found was one chair and one drawer. These she placed for
safety in a tree. Her other belongings consisted of one pair of shoes. These
were drying out on the top of two poles stuck firmly in the mud for safe
keeping.^34 This tale serves to remind us that as a means of examining the
realities of the world we live in, with all its tensions, horrors, aspirations
and dreams, assessment of the cultural meanings of clothing is perhaps one
of the very best tools of analysis. For millions, as the magical style element
of couture touches our lives through the consumption of mass-produced
‘designer’ goods, the dream is of a pair of “Quick trainers” from Hermes at
£290. For yet more millions, the dream is of a pair of dry shoes.
34 .BBC Radio 4, 1.00pm News Bulletin, 5 March, 2000.