How high-end brands are jumping on the streetwear bandwagon

I remember, a few years ago, during my high school years, seeing all the rich kids smoking cigarettes in their Moncler jackets at the front gate of my school building. Those were the kids that went skiing to expensive ski resorts, such as St Moritz and Ischgl, with their parents and were driven to school in their daddy's Bentley. Those were the kids that went out every weekend and ordered champagne and vodka bottles to their vip booth while I was at home, binge-watching Supernatural, wishing I had an old Chevy Impala.
Those people were the ones, I thought, Moncler was targeting as their loyal customers. After all, the brand has always been famous for their quilted and down jackets, that people would wear on their ski holiday or at home, showing off that they'd go on a ski holiday each year.



Having such a background in mind, it feels difficult to me to appreciate a collaboration between the posh ski brand and streetwear brand Off-White. To be honest, the AW16 collaboration of those two brands might be one of the best collections I have seen from Off-White in a while but streetwear used to be something a little more edgy and unique and Moncler used to have nothing to do with streetwear at all.

Streetwear is being commercialised, not only by high-street retailers but by high-end luxury brands that are forgetting about their core values and are trying to target a new market. Moncler is introducing a lot of camo prints, getting further away from the jackets they once used to be so known for.
It is a phenomenon I have observed a lot in recent years: Valentino being almost more popular for their sneakers than for their statement 'rockstud' heels and flats, Riccardo Tisci creating sweaters for Givenchy that seem to be too cool for the runway.

All this made me thinking, are we as humans, simply adapting to a more casual style? Is this just hype or is it going to last?

This is part of the background story of my research report I am currently working on for my uni course, counting on your support (surveys, in particular) in the near future.

talk to you soon,

xo Anne