Marta Rebelo: "As an art form, fashion is a show. And since it's in the area of vanity and ego, it's normal that people want to see and be seen."

The goal of “Thinking Fashion” is to think about fashion in a transversal way. Its importance, the players, the search for national and international relevance, even the way it can change people’s lives.

Over the next weeks, “Thinking Fashion” will appear in the form of a digital interview. A selection of thinkers will be put to the test. The result is the sum of several reflections and perspectives on fashion, this dynamic and multidimensional organism by nature.

Thus, we leave the digital interview to Marta Rebelo, digital communication consultant.

The introductions are done. Now, all you have to do is think.

1. We cannot talk about fashion without talking about trends. Do you follow any?

It can happen, accidentally. I don’t follow trends because they are trends, the ones that someone – a metaphysical entity! – decides are the sensation of the saison. My trends are very vintage and come from the sixties and early seventies. Once a decade I get lucky, and in the recycling of influences they pick up my favorite aesthetic era.

2. Does success in fashion come from work, luck, or some combination of factors like one in a million?

There may be luck, there is a combination of “astral” factors, but without work nobody, in any area, is going anywhere.

3. To see their work recognized, the designers need the immateriality of advice or people who buy their clothes?

They need consumers. They need to understand their market. They need to know how to position themselves and innovate in raw materials, follow consumer preferences (for example, the abandonment of real fur, leather, eco raw materials and so on). Fashion is an art form, but it is above all a multi-million dollar business. And here lies the huge problem of Portuguese designer fashion: the lack of professionalization and business management of the business. Naturally, a designer doesn’t have to be encyclopedic and create and manage at the same time. But wonderful creation and rigorous management have to coexist inseparably.

4. Some say that fashion is an art form. But there are those who argue that it is a minor art. Is everyday life the enemy of contemplation?

For me it is an art form, and no less. It has a fascinating advantage over the others, which are mostly contemplative: it is interpretative, it lives from what each person does with it on a daily basis. And performative, but it is the anonymous citizen who freely interprets it. And it says a lot about society and the identity of each one of us.

5. Why do some Portuguese designers find it so difficult to make a living from their main profession?

Because fashion is a business. And this insurmountable fact limits, or at least conforms, creative decisions – something that bothers artists, I understand. But given the size of the small Portuguese market, the need to read the consumers is fundamental to capture investment, to generate profit, and therefore to make a living from the profession.

6. In what ways can the industry approach author fashion? Or should the path be taken the other way around?

It must be a parallel encounter. The industry assumes its business nature, so it is interested in making a profit. The national fashion author, for the reasons we have already mentioned, has to assume that creation and commercial performance are two sides of the same coin. They should seek each other out. Until this movement is fluid and obvious to all participants, institutions like Portugal Fashion have to mediate this “flirtation” and promote happy marriages.

7. If you put together five or six pieces from a fast fashion store you can buy one piece from some Portuguese designers, which has more quality and is often unique. Is there shame, laziness or lack of interest in buying Portuguese?

Designer fashion is a niche, and is not of interest to all buyers. And these people are not criminals or suffering from any kind of fashionbetism. On the one hand, because many people cannot afford to buy designer clothes. On the other hand, because the aesthetic identity of a large majority lives comfortably on the trends that are dictated to them, and which they can access without any work through fast fashion. And also because of ignorance: how does one get to Portuguese designers? Where do they sell? We can only reach the general public if we look for them and talk to them.

8. Has sustainability changed the fashion paradigm?

Not yet fully, and this is a consequential movement: first, it is necessary that people understand that the survival of the planet and of the humans who inhabit it depends on behavioral change. And that they abandon that ridiculous idea that they alone cannot change the world. Fashion reflects society.

9. Many people want to go to fashion events in Portugal. 95% of those same people have never bought Portuguese fashion. What will be the interest then?

As an art form, fashion is a spectacle. And since it is in the area of vanity and ego, it is normal that people want to see and be seen. About the Vanity Fair already William Makepeace Thackeray said it all, in the 19th century.

10. Does it still make sense to have Fashion Weeks in the traditional format?

It depends on which fashion weeks we are talking about. Formats that privilege spectacle and ignore strategy and digital make no sense.

11. Because of a pandemic there was a growth of digital. Did the physical stores had to close to invest in online stores?

Online commerce, in all segments, has had exponential growth with the confinements and other pandemic vicissitudes. The important thing now is to adjust the direction. In fashion, it is more difficult to fully entice consumers to go online: one has to inform very strictly – what exactly are the size tables? The compositions and quality of the pieces?; and ensure a logistics network that works perfectly and facilitates choices, returns and exchanges. I hate buying fashion online, because these conditions are rarely met (but I do buy). They are touch-and-go purchases.

12. How can you think about fashion in Portugal?

Broadening the debate to industries and to managers, entrepreneurs, consumers. Portuguese fashion is still too closed in its own restricted circle, averse to outsiders. But the outsiders are precisely the people fashion is aimed at.

13. Is there a deliberate “culture of alienation” in relation to the achievements of Portuguese designers abroad?

This idea has a conspiratorial assumption that I don’t think is present. There is alienation in relation to what Portuguese designers do. Inside, outside, it’s not a question of geography. It’s about communication – and generating interest. In this era of the instantaneous and plurinformation, we have to reach people and be with them.