High Fashion, Low Marketing

Interesting piece in the NYT Style section (of all places) today on the utter failure of top designers, and top design houses, to embrace the Web as a marketing medium. (Click quick to read it before it goes behind the wall.)

Caryn Horn praises the ability of most fahion houses to get up what she calls “very good” Web sites. I beg to differ, in most cases. But she calls them out for dropping the ball when it comes to relationship marketing, particularly in terms of promoting the celebrity designers so critical to moving the merch that bears their name.

What Horn neglects to mention is how institutionalized neglect-the-Web is across the rag trade as a whole, particularly fashion media. From a lackluster Vogue to the mid-90s style Women’s Wear Daily, there’s no real strategy or innovation or style from the publications whose mission is to cover, well, innovation and style.

I’m beginnng to realize why I don’t have a thing to wear….