The End of Fashion

A Wall Street Journal reporter’s account of the radical transformation of the fashion industry, “filled with insider details” (Library Journal).

The time when fashion was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by the elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers and creativity is channeled more into mass-marketing clothes than into designing them. 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, and 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 couture that sent Isaac Mizrahi’s business spiraling.

“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

“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, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times–bestselling author of Unscripted

“Compelling.” —Publishers Weekly 

“It ought to be required reading for people who think they might like to be clothing designers.” —The New York Times