For years the elite fashion stores in our major cities, like London and Paris, have welcomed tourists with open-arms as big spenders, but it seems recently that unlike our more inexpensive London hangouts, the big names are feeling a little neglected when it comes to the big orders.
While most of us haven’t noticed the falling oil price or even paid attention to the market worries surrounding its’ uncertainty, we may have picked up on falling Petrol prices and cheaper energy deals flooding the markets. This has been because the price of Oil has fallen dramatically since last year, and it seems that Fashion is its’ next victim. Countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia who are notoriously into fashion and elitist London goods, are heavily reliant on the export of Oil, and with the cost dropping so much, it appears they have been cutting back on their spending.
Dasha Zhukova Paris Fashion Week
Now while this may not mean much to the stores that most of us will do our average clothes shopping from, it could spell big price increases at higher-end designer outlets like Harvey Nichols and Burberry, as they struggle to balance their stock against a falling GBP and in line with making up lost profits to tourism. Rather frustrating really for a fashion aficionado like myself who at the very least likes browsing the stores and wondering whether I could justify the price tags by finding an excuse of where I might wear such beautiful (and bank breaking) dresses.
So is this likely to last very long? Well with tourism picking up again as the Pound Sterling falls and the other currencies get stronger, this may just be a short-term blip; but it will be interesting to guess just how international fashion weeks will respond to this after seeing no real changes in last month’s London Fashion Week. It would certainly have been funny to have watched Kate Moss walking down the runway in the latest offering from Primark or Victoria Beckham reveal a new line of budget bargains to her fans; but I think regardless of the hilarity that would have ensued, we are someway off from seeing such alien things.
Victoria Beckham New York Fashion Week 2016
Therefore, while the future of Oil prices and the fates of some of the oil-rich countries may be in jeopardy, we don’t have to worry too much about big price tag increases on our clothes and can rely on shows like Next Top Model to keep getting our fix of the latest options without having to worry about seeing the ghastly price tags. And if by some strange reason you’ve decided to go and research more of the latest markets news to see if any of your other favourite items are likely to be heading upwards in their price points, do let me know of any major brands who you encounter along the way.
