Independent brand Simon Cracker denounces luxury fashion system with upcycled parodies

MILAN (AP) — The independent Italian fashion brand Simon Cracker denounced the luxury fashion system with an upcycled collection previewed during Milan Fashion Week on Sunday that riffed on what they see as bygone days of quality and creativity.

The co-ed looks created from recovered and deadstock garments, materials and accessories included a tongue-in-cheek swipe at Hermes’ highly prized Birken bag, with the designers drawing the tell-tale hardware on leather bags or screen-printing images of the coveted bag on sweaters.

Co-creative directors Simone Botte and Filippo Biraghi were delighted that Walmart came out with what was widely seen as a Birken knock-off while they were working on this collection.

“People have lost interest in fashion,” Biraghi said. “They have been taken for a ride for 20 years. And with 50 wars in the world, climate change, we all are getting poorer. There is no longer a connection between price and value. At a certain point you cant go on.’’

The collection pokes fun at the typical Milanese signora, known in dialect as sciura, sending her up with funky tweed separates, a foulard and even a tiny dog. Each silhouette is unique, constructed from garments the pair recover from drycleaners and other sources, and models slide into character with insouciant slouches and exaggerated catwalk strides.

The brand extended its collaboration with Doc Martens, decorated with trompe l’oeil ballerina shoes. At times, skirts, collars and decorative fringe were fashioned out of shiny tinsel packing material, and ribbons covered shoes.

The show closed with garment completely concealed by luxury tags from Biraghi’s own wardrobe collected over the years. “We are making fun of wealth,” he said.

The Simon Cracker runway critique hits the sector when its down __ and analysts say in need of reform.

A new study by McKinsey consultancy and The Business of Fashion said that top brands are facing a significant slowdown this year, after a four-year period of exceptional growth from 2019-2023 that allowed the sector to grow by a compounded 5% a year despite the pandemic.

Most of that expansion — a full 80% — was due to price increases that outpaced innovation, the McKinsey-Business of Fashion report said.

The Bain consultancy similarly has forecast a contraction of 2% for 2025, the first since the Great Recession, not including the 2020 pandemic year. It cited a crisis in creativity along side global turbulence.

The findings are of no surprise to Botte and Biraghi.

“If a garment is not interesting, it it doesn’t tell a story, if there is nothing creative, who cares,” said Biraghi. ”We all have lots of clothes, too many. We don’t need more.”

Italian singer Chiara Galiazzo was in the front row dressed in a pinstripe and plaid jacket painted in sky blue and worn with royal blue Bermuda cutoffs and matching painted boots. She said she was drawn to the brand by its authenticity.

“I feel like I am part of a community,’’ she said after the show. “I think this is something that is important, and a lot of fun.”

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