Am I the only one who thinks group critiques are ruining fashion design?

When I was in a design team at a big brand, our weekly meetings were supposed to help, but they just made everything bland. Someone would always shoot down edgy ideas because they were 'too risky' for sales. I remember proposing a line with uneven cuts, and it got watered down until it looked like everything else. Now that I work solo, I embrace those risks, and my latest project with recycled materials is getting noticed. The fear of judgment in group settings stifles what fashion should be: personal and bold. If your designs feel safe, it might be the echo chamber of your coworkers. Trust your gut and sketch what you love, not what wins a vote.

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica1301d ago

Come on, fashion has always had committees. Creative stuff still somehow gets made.

taylorgonzalez1d ago

But isn't the whole system different now? Like back in the day a committee might have been a few editors and a designer in a room, now it's layers of execs, market data, and risk-averse brands. Does that much corporate input actually let the weird, interesting ideas survive, or just water everything down to the safest bet? Feels like the machine is built to avoid big swings, which is where the real creative stuff usually comes from.

kim.nina1d ago

Yeah, it's like when you see a cool street style idea and then it hits the mall as a beige cardigan (not that I'd know, my own 'bold' move is wearing mismatched socks). Remember those insane platform shoes from a few years ago? By the time they got to department stores, they were just slightly thicker soles. All the edge gets smoothed out by folks who think risk means using a new font on the tag. Now everything feels like it was designed by the same person who picks hotel art.