UK Edition
It’s the day before the Brexit vote, and I’m on a Paris-bound Eurostar train. I’m en route to spend a few hours in the archives of a French jeweller owned by a Swiss conglomerate whose other holdings include Italian, German, Chinese and American brands. So far, so fashion. This journey, like the fashion world as a whole, is underpinned by an international outlook that seems tinged with premature nostalgia. Today: frictionless movement across the Anglo-French border. From Friday? Potentially, passports, s'il vous plait?
Members of the British fashion industry were slow off the mark about intervening in discussions over Brexit. Until the menswear shows in London last week, the highest-profile public statements by industry leaders consisted of Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, Vogue’s Alexandra Shulman and Dame Vivienne Westwood adding their signatures to letters supporting Remain and an i-D magazine shoot of street-cast models wearing photographer Wolfgang Tillmans’ Remain T-shirts.
Maybe the sluggish response represented hesitation to take sides in a contentious debate. But as campaigning draws to an end and the referendum result looks increasingly uncertain, the industry has grown increasingly outspoken in favour of the Remain option. Last week the British Fashion Council revealed that 90% of respondents to its Brexit survey said they preferred to remain in Europe, with only 4.3% voting to leave.
At the menswear shows, designers Patrick Grant of E. Tautz and Cozette McCreery and Sid Bryan of Sibling took their bows wearing bold ‘IN’ t-shirts. And yesterday, Victoria Beckham declared her support for Remain on Instagram, writing, “I believe in my country, I believe in a future for my children where we are stronger together.”
For all its invocations of ‘heritage’ and ‘Britishness’, the UK fashion scene relies on access to European talent and markets. And many fashion insiders are concerned a Leave win will be an harbinger of the end of free trade, bringing with it increased manufacturing costs and a more complicated business environment - leading to higher prices for consumers.
"We expect clothing price to increase by 4% because of the tariff and non-tariff barriers that would start applying on imports from the EU," says Swati Dhingra, Assistant Professor Department of Economics and CEP, at the London School of Economics. "Even if Britain puts these import tariffs at zero unilaterally, there would be non-tariff barriers to importing from the EU which would increase clothing prices by 2% on average."
The set-up of established designers demonstrates how complicated Brexit could be practically. Phoebe Philo lives in London and designs for a Parisian house. Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane and Alexander McQueen are British brands part owned by Kering, a French luxury conglomerate whose chief executive resides in London. And it’s no different on the high street. The brilliant Finery - a small British brand that proves it is possible to flourish on the high street here if you get your market right - is backed by a global fashion group based in Berlin and with investment from Stockholm.
The other concern is what happens if free movement is restricted, should Britain vote to leave. The 19% of students on the BA fashion design course at Central Saint Martins who hail from European countries are "exceedingly worried," says Willie Walters, course director of BA fashion at CSM, part of the University of the Arts London. "The cross-fertilisation of ideas between students from mainland Europe and Britain is enormous… Brexit would be a huge regression."
Many of the most thrilling names on the London design scene have roots elsewhere in Europe. Mary Katrantzou (Greece), Roksanda Ilincic (Serbia), Peter Pilotto (Austria; design partner Christopher de Vos is Belgo-Peruvian), Isa Arfen (Italy), Marques’Almeida (Portugal) and others weren’t born in the UK but chose to build businesses here.
"I have lived here 14 years and now have British citizenship" Katrantzou tells The Telegraph, "I employ people from Sweden, Germany, Italy - all over Europe - so we really have that fear of the unkown. Would there be visa issues? How easy would it be? It makes everything very fragile." Katrantzou says that any short term gains which might come from a post-Brexit dip in the pound would pale in significance compared with the long-term effects. "Stores might buy more from us in the immediate future if the pound was weak but there are so many bigger, underlying issues," she says. "All our factories are in Europe so we feel very connected and depend on being able to develop pieces in time for our shows, working to deadlines. In London, the creative industry is a melting pot of people and that is the real core of our business - their perspective and ideas are part of a modern Europe. I want to see my country move forward, not back."
But economics aside, is there an emotional side that’s swaying the fashion world towards Remain? Ever since British Vogue surveyed the latest styles from Paris in its inaugural issue in 1916, what happens on the continent has had an outsized influence on British style.
Just as our food has improved since we’ve integrated further with Europe, so has our style grown more sophisticated through ease of access to Paris, Milan and Copenhagen. Even the most committed member of the ‘Leave’ camp probably has a stripey (French) top or two and a pair of (German) adidas Stan Smiths nestled in her (Swedish) Ikea wardrobe. Her closet will also feature heavy Spanish representation by way of Zara, which may cease to be quite so cheap or cheerful once duties are added on. And no doubt she'll boast more than a few holiday purchases picked up on European summer breaks. (Side note: how much more satisfying is it finding an item in a Greek market that you know no one else will have?)
It’s that merging of cultures that makes British style so unique - and so much more interesting that the homogenized look you see throughout America, for example. Take a tally of where the brands you’re wearing right now originate as an example. See? Europe: It’s a good look on you.
Let's not forget all that Europe has done to improve the way we dress