A solid, hard-hitting, and uncompromising journalistic look at the fashion industry. The time when "fashion" was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers and creativity is channeled more into mass-marketing clothes than into designing them. Indeed, one need look no further than the Gap to see proof of this. In  The End of Fashion, Wall Street Journal , reporter Teri Agins astutely explores this seminal change, laying bare all aspects of the fashion industry from manufacturing, retailing, anmd licensing to image making and financing. Here as well are fascinating insider vignettes that show Donna Karan fighting with financiers,the rivalry between Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, and the commitment to haute conture that sent Isaac Mizrahi's business spiraling. ?It ought to be required reading for peoople who think they might like to be clothing designers.?--"New York Times?["The End of Fashion] will have old-school fashionistas weeping into their Ferragamo scarves.?--"Entertainment Weekly"Agins has a gift for bringing the business of fasion to life. . . . It may indeed be the end of fashion, but Agins makes it an entertaining ride."--"Newsweek"A fascinating read for anyone who lives the industry, its players, or clothing itself."--"The Boston Globe""The End of Fashion rips into the seamy underbelly of a world where marketing is king, and often the emperor has no clothes."--"Vanity Fair "Teri Agins is one of the most influential and well-respected reporters in the industry of fashion and all its facets. "The End of Fashion is a watershed book which has pioneered a new realm of what fashion means to people. This is landmark book which reveals the complexities inside fashion in an original and entertaining way.? --Andre Leon Talley, editor at large, "Vogue?No other writer has the combined wit, style, sources, and fashion industry savvy to match the "Wall Street Journal's Teri Agins, and it's all on display in "The End of Fashion. The depth of reporting makes this essential reading not just for "fashionistas, " but anyone interested in how business really works-or fails-in this dizzying world of art, culture, entertainment, and finance. ?--James B. Stewart, author of "Den of Thieves and "Blood Sport"Fast reading and surgically precise. The hottest business book at the start of the millennium. "The End of Fashion should be required reading for everyone in our industry."--Bud Konheim, CEO, Nicole Miller Ltd. The time when "fashion" was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers and creativity is channeled more into mass-marketing clothes than into designing them. Indeed, one need look no further than the Gap to see proof of this. In The End of Fashion, Wall Street Journal , reporter Teri Agins astutely explores this seminal change, laying bare all aspects of the fashion industry from manufacturing, retailing, anmd licensing to image making and financing. Here as well are fascinating insider vignettes that show Donna Karan fighting with financiers,the rivalry between Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, and the commitment to haute conture that sent Isaac Mizrahi's business spiraling. Teri Agins has covered the fashion business at The Wall Street Journal for ten years and lives in New York City. This is her first book. The End of Fashion How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever By Agins, Teri Quill Copyright © 2004 Teri Agins All right reserved. ISBN: 0060958200 PARIS: The Beginning and the End of Fashion We will know twenty years from now what fashion is in Paris. Right now, there is general confusion. --Karl Lagerfeld, April 24, 1998 The stock market crash of October 19, 1987, left the world in stunned suspension, as millions of people pondered how their lives would inevitably change after nearly a decade of fast fortunes, high living, and conspicuous consumption. Just days after the big bombshell, New York's financial district erupted again-but this time for a glorious celebration inside the World Financial Center, the gleaming new office towers that were the home of American Express, Merrill Lynch, and Dow Jones and Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. On the evening of October 28, New York's social glitterati headed downtown to pay homage to Christian Lacroix, French fashion's it man of the moment. Except for the unlucky timing, the venue was perfect. Overlooking the Hudson River in lower Manhattan, with a distant view of the Statue of Liberty, the World Financial Center's glass-covered public courtyard provided a glamorous backdrop for a fashion-show stage and dozens of candlelit tables arranged around the sixteen live palm trees that rose forty-five feet from its marble floors. Partygoers would long remember the Lacroix gala, which concluded with a fireworks show as exub