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The Standard

19 Mar 2026 · 20m · 9 chapters

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Can awards season revive legacy fashion houses? With John Arlidge

In short

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Main points

  • Host: Tamara Kormornick
  • Guest: John Arlidge (Business writer and branding specialist)
  • Key Topics: Legacy fashion brands, awards season, retail dynamics, second-hand market, consumer behavior
  • 2026 Awards Season:
  • Featured memorable fashion moments such as Jessie Buckley in a striking Chanel gown and Timothée Chalamet's stylish Givenchy suit.
  • Designers like Schiaparelli and Valentino made headlines, showcasing the intersection of fashion and celebrity.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

1:32

Awards Season and Legacy Fashion

Discussion on the impact of awards season on legacy fashion brands.

“As Sunday night's Oscars drew the curtain on awards season, it wasn't just the stars in focus, but the designers who have been dressing them.”
2:41

Challenges Facing Saks

Exploring the struggles of Saks and the retail industry.

“Hola Jon, gracias por acompañarme en el Estadio Podcast.”
4:04

The Fall of Luxury Brands

Understanding the decline of luxury brands and their market strategies.

“porque, en realidad, era en la semana que SACS filed por protección de la banca.”
6:41

China's Influence on Luxury Markets

Analyzing how changes in China affect luxury spending.

“So for all those reasons, an awful lot of companies found that the engine of growth was sputtering.”
8:03

Price Strategies Post-COVID

Discussion on price hikes and consumer reactions in luxury markets.

“Estaba en tu pieza de Standard que un montón de empresas que están tomando un post-pandemic revenge spending sales boom.”
9:21

The Rise of Dupes in Fashion

Examining the emergence of affordable alternatives to luxury brands.

“I mean, 50 % price hikes was not uncommon.”
15:52

Reviving Legacy Brands: Strategies and Insights

Exploration of how heritage brands can attract customers back.

“do you think these customers could be persuaded to look back over their shoulders?”
17:41

Navigating the Luxury Market Changes

Discussion on Gucci's challenges and the impact of second-hand markets.

“They didn't used to do so many red scarves, but the red scarves, when you see them, when you go to an airport or you're in a shopping centre, they're just absolutely brilliant.”
19:52

The Future of Fashion: Excitement and Accessibility

Insights on making fashion fun and accessible to new generations.

“Or do you think it's something that actually keeps brands going?”
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Transcript

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0:01¡Cumpleaños, Lesslie! ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Rafa! ¡Sopla, sopla! ¡Traigan la manguera, que son 45! Cuando cumples 45, te toca soplar muchas velas y examinarte contra el cáncer de colon, ya que al detectarse temprano, es más tratable en 9 de cada 10 personas. Usa la prueba de Cologuard en la privacidad de tu casa y envíala de regreso para obtener tus resultados. La prueba de Cologuard es una opción con receta para detectar el cáncer de colon en personas de 45 años o más con riesgo promedio. Resultados positivos deben ir seguidos de una colonoscopía. Pueden darse resultados falsos positivos y falsos negativos.

0:40La prueba de Cologuard no reemplaza la colonoscopía en pacientes de alto riesgo. No uses Cologuard si has tenido adenomas, si tienes enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal y ciertos síndromes hereditarios o un historial personal o familiar de cáncer de colon. Pide la prueba de Cologuard a tu médico. Para más información en español, visita colorguard.com diagonal prueba.

1:24con un experto en automación de tu negocio y un guión de$250 al asociación de un gracias. Es bill.com. Termas y condiciones apply. See the offer page for details.

1:41As Sunday night's Oscars drew the curtain on awards season, it wasn't just the stars in focus, but the designers who have been dressing them. So, do legacy brands still rule, or is their influence Hola y bienvenidos de The Standard Podcast. Soy Alan Lear, normalmente en la Tech y Science Show, pero hoy estamos hablando para nuestro usual, most wonderful host, Tamara Comornik. Para todas las noticias, head over a standard.co.uk. ¿Cómo se puede ver el año? ¿Cómo se puede ver el año?

2:18El año 2026 año se puede ver un forgettable fashion momentos desde la búsqueda de la búsqueda de la cintura de la chanel a la Timoteo Chamelea de la gaventura. Con diseños como Schiaparelli y Valentino dominando en el headlines, la red carpeta felt mucho como un runway as they coincidieron con major fashion weeks. En este episodio, host Tomára Comornick es acompañado por el diseño de la y el diseño de la marca y el especialista John Ulrich para discutir el cambio de la creación para la creación de la creación en un ambiente difícil de la creación de la creación de la creación de alta calidad y, finalmente, la downfall de la redacción.

2:59Aquí es Her Chat con Jon.

3:04Hola Jon, gracias por acompañarme en el Estadio Podcast. Es genial que te haya. Gracias. So Jon, quiero empezar esta conversación sobre las empresas por hablar de Saks. So, el luxury retailer, best known for their stores en Manhattan, es closing 8 de sus locations y yo vivía en Nueva York aunque yo era un estudiante así que no era no era un

3:50que se desplieguez a salón, porque es uno de los problemas que tienen. Ellos han perdido la piscación, así que se les va a tener bargains para pick up. Pero la windowsillan las sort de blacked out, y se dice en tiny letras, Creative Installation in Progress, que es una mal, mal joke, porque, en realidad, era en la semana que SACS filed por protección de la banca. Así que se había muy poco creatividad en el atuario, unless you count creative accounting, of course, para que se puedan conseguir conseguir la banca de la banca. que se deben ocurrir. No, creo que es tender a poco. Y es muy duro, porque es como se dramatizes en una subray Anytime a un Icon.

4:25Y Sylvester Avenue… Voy a escuchar replante de una pinchada que realmente no practicibas de una

4:35Estoy Hangando en Las able pero quiero divertirme. Fue enviando contaminación Y de tu piezas, yo me entiendo que lo que está pasando en Saks es un microcosm de la luxury goods world. ¿Puedes unirnos a ese mundo, John? ¿Qué ha pasado? Bueno, todo ha ido mal a la vez por el año. Saks es solo un parte de la parte de la parte de la retail. La gente no está en el doldrum. La gente no está en el shopping anymore. Y si están en el shopping en el en bricks y mortar stores, están buscando la sales. Y esto es, As I said just now, one of the issues they've had over the years is they started discounting frantically as long ago as 2009, 2010, just after the global financial crisis, because everyone was terrified that no one would buy anything anymore.

5:33And they've just sort of forgotten to stop. They've just forgotten how to charge full price anymore. So they've been, like all retailers, wholesalers, they've been terrible trouble just to kind of keep margins up. Y luego, la forma de la vida, si es la pricing, si es la sustainability, si es la excitement de nuevos designers y nuevos proyectos, es todo un poco flat. Las cosas son duras, un montón de las prices han ido, no es muy exciting, han ido a la wrong side de la sustainability argumentación, han sido accused de algunos de los ejércitos laboral y el producción y el supply chain. So all the houses, wherever you look, it used to be all the balance sheets used to be fashionably black.

6:18And now they're kind of red because they're losing money or they're losing customers. So it's not a healthy picture right now. And I know a lot of brands, they saw China and the Far East as the kind of golden ticket. What's happened there? China was the golden ticket for many years until it wasn't. China accounted for north of one third of all luxury spending and you saw all sorts of brands kind of overexpand there notably Gucci who are now pulling back and they were doing it at a time when there was huge growth in China and they sort of forgot that what goes up sometimes stops going up and the economy has been in the doldrums for the last few years I mean COVID lockdowns were extremely strict as you know There's been a property crisis, there's been a sort of unemployment spike in China, and also a move by the Chinese Communist Party, by the leaderships, to discourage displays of ostentation, which of course fashion is partly about.

7:18So for all those reasons, an awful lot of companies found that the engine of growth was sputtering. China was not motoring in the way that they'd hoped, and they've really had to look to new markets. Pero eso ha sido un problema también porque Trump impuso tarifas en los productos que se han llegado a los Estados Unidos. Y eso incluye luxury goods. Ahora, están habiendo de poner su precios para accountar para los tarifas. Así que no es fácil si uno mercado es down, necesariamente, para tratar de rampar en otro mercado cuando hay un tipo de Trump en la White House. Así que, en términos de la economía, si estás buscando para el mercado de growth, es muy, muy difícil de ver dónde vas a encontrarlo ahora.

7:58Ahora, Europa es muy frío, China está estabilizado, Europa está bien, pero no hay un aumento de crecimiento. Pero no hay un aumento de crecimiento. Estaba en tu pieza de los tarifes. Estaba en tu pieza de Standard que un montón de empresas que están tomando un post-pandemic revenge spending sales boom. Un precio ha triplicado con no material change a la original item. Así que tenemos Louis Vuitton, popular pochette, que ha tripledido de$525 a$1 ,660. ¡Gosh, eso es el agua! En tu opinión, ¿de luxury brands se quedan greedy o están haciendo un tiempo para los tiempo? Luxury brands definitivamente se quedan greedy.

8:43Es un excuso, quizás, que estaban muy difícil por COVID. La supply chaines se quedó completamente roiled. La gente no era sin irse a la shops. Es obviamente difícil para comprar cosas. Y entonces, Y entonces, cuando el lockdown se levantó, hay un gran exuberante momento cuando todos los han ido mad. Y ellos han ido a la aeropucia porque no han ido a la aeropucia, pero también han ido a la aeropucia. Y también han ido a comprar algo que no han ido a comprar. Entonces, hay un gran boom. Y creo que el brands se han pensado, bueno, hang on un minuto. Si hay este mucho demanda, nos vamos a jackar las prices.

9:16Y el price hikes, como mencioné con Vuitton, pero hay otros otros. Hay Prada, hay Dior, hay todos los tipos de brands. son realmente astonishing. I mean, 50 % price hikes was not uncommon. On the exact same good, it wasn't as if they were making anything better. It was the same bag that they'd been selling since forever. It just cost a whole bunch more. And of course, the obvious things that, you know, this reaction from consumers once they got over their exuberance and sort of spent all their money was instantly to hate all these brands because they felt like they were just being ripped off. So what they're doing is now a lot of these consumers have just turned away.

9:52promesas de las brands. Y las brands de ahorastrings r obrig trendios chicas their prices and get back to something that feels fair. People buy luxury because they want to dream. They want to reward themselves. They want to signal membership of a refined club. Lots of reasons why people do this. But they also, unless they're not completely mad, they also actually want it to feel like even though it's expensive, it's still good value. They're not being a sucker. And I think an awful lot of them felt like they were being taken for fools, so they turned their backs on full price. They're shopping at Bista, they're shopping in the sales, o donde se sirven en jupe que son mercancos carI Caminnén

10:34no hay pénis

10:43cálvar también a la cuenta ¿Eso es interesante? Porque se podía que se acudía mal unṦ huevé vacunado a 나는 con Otto era tan que travi la account Absolutely ¿Casa ¿Jude composición ¿Qué es más acceptable ahora? ¿Qué es más acceptable para dos razones? Uno es que es mejor. Como decía, este es no no es cheap knock-offs made in sweatshops en God knows where. You know, that was, you know, we all knew you could go to some marketplace in Hong Kong and buy something that looked a bit like something else, but it wasn't very male-led and it wasn't very convincing. And anyway, as you say, it was kind of social death because it was kind of tacky.

11:21But what's changed is two things. One is el grieinflation, la price hikes de los grandes grandes, ha abierto un enorme gap en el mercado para estos dupes para mover. Este gap no existía antes, so un buen ejemplo. Cuccinelli es un buen ejemplo. Es un gran que realmente me gusta. They're a fantastic brand. Y el calidad es genial, y el style es genial, pero el precio es como eye-bleeding. You can get a sweater for$7 ,000 o$8 ,000, que, given que este sweater no cura cancer, parece que es un gran precio. ¿Para tanto es el Meados?

12:23These jeep brands could come in and charge maybe a little bit more than Michael Kors or Hugo Boss or whatever. Maybe they would charge, you know,$1 ,200 or something. But$1 ,200 is an enormously much cheaper price than$7 ,000. And also their quality was pretty good. So I'm not saying to anyone, look, you know, don't buy Cuccinelli. Because if you like Cuccinelli, you can afford Cuccinelli, then God love you, buy Cuccinelli. But most people can't. y la verdadera de los precios les dupes de las empresas un chance de nip en bien, bien, bien de estos precios y essentially sort de copiar es un poco cheating, ¿no?

12:59Pero que es lo que es copiar la estética partly porque el estilo de los estados de los brands como Cucinelli y Lloropiano que son of a they're a kind de quiet luxury y no can't really copyright o trademark a blue blazer. You just can't. You know, you can say ours is better because it's made of better fabric, that's fine. But you can't actually say no one else can make one that looks a bit like this with a soft shoulder or a flat pocket or whatever and charge a fraction of the price because that would be ridiculous. It would be like saying nobody else can make jackets just because we do. So they have sort of left themselves open.

13:37They don't have obvious logos, a lot of these brands. So they have kind of left themselves vulnerable, if you like, to these kind of dupes. pero se han sido un gran fenomenon y si quieren check them out, se han sido muy, muy interesante y se han hecho muy, muy bien Así que es un luxury, se han sido un granos en el behind. Es un luxury, quizás un granos en el camino y tal, quizás un granos en el camino. Vamos a tomar un breve break, pero comenzamos a preguntar a cómo legacy brands might get customers back onside y si no se puede hacer un granos de la segunda y si es un granos de la empresa. Vamos a ver en un momento.

14:13Youth mental health is a complex challenge that requires comprehensive solutions. We must strengthen after-school programs. We must make digital literacy tools available in our schools. We must work with mental health professionals to support children. And we must empower mentors, educators, and parents to keep kids happy. Learn more about our commitment to finding lasting solutions at empowerourfuturecoalition.com slash solutions, paid for by the Coalition to empower our future. ¡Un día, José! ¡Bien! ¡Un feliz cumpleaños, Rafa! ¡Sopla, sopla! ¡Traigan la manguera, que son 45! Cuando cumples 45, te toca soplar muchas velas y examinarte contra el cáncer de colon, ya que al detectarse temprano, es más tratable en 9 de cada 10 personas.

15:05Usa la prueba de Cologuard en la privacidad de tu casa y envíala de regreso para obtener tus resultados. La prueba de Cologuard es una opción con receta para detectar el cáncer de colon en personas de 45 años o más con riesgo promedio. Resultados positivos deben ir seguidos de una colonoscopía. Pueden darse resultados falsos positivos y falsos negativos. La prueba de Cologuard no reemplaza la colonoscopía en pacientes de alto riesgo. No uses Cologuard si has tenido adenomas, si tienes enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal y ciertos síndromes hereditarios o un historial personal o familiar de cáncer de colon.

15:35Pide la prueba de Cologuard a tu médico. Para más información en español, visita colorguard.com diagonal prueba.

15:47Welcome back. We'll get straight back into the chat between tomorrow and John. So, John, for those customers whose backs have maybe turned away from the high luxury items, do you think these customers could be persuaded to look back over their shoulders? y si, ¿qué debería un heritaje brand necesitar para que estos clientes se vuelva? Los clientes son siempre buscando el nuevo tema o algo que significa algo para ellos. Y para heritaje brands, eso significa que hay que tener que llevarse a la pasto, que algunos brands se vuelve tan bien. Yo he sido muy struck, por lo que Joshua Schulman, quien es el nuevo CEO de Burberry, o nuevo, ha sido un poco de años, ha realmente entrado en ese British quirk y eccentricidad.

16:33Olivia Colman does a lot de las ads, alongside, you know, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy, the kind of obvious kind of models you might have expressing Britishness. But they've got Olivia Colman in Land Rovers with sort of sheep and wellies and things. And it just reminds people that this is about, you know, a British brand with its roots in the countryside, so military dressing to it. But basically it's about not getting wet. And they've kind of done that really, really well. y le leverage que si pueden hacer eso los clientes siempre van a ser un fresh look para que te preste una de las cosas que se ha hecho en Burberry es reducir algunas de las las de las las de las las de las las de las las de las las de las de las de la y que no es lo que les want en Burberry they want a much more affordable bag a sort of Mulberry type price bag not a Gucci type bag so if you can leverage Leverage that heritage, leverage those cues, and get your pricing right.

17:37I think people will take a second look at you. And Burberry's numbers are good. Also the colours. I mean, look at those red scarves. They didn't used to do so many red scarves, but the red scarves, when you see them, when you go to an airport or you're in a shopping centre, they're just absolutely brilliant. They're having some fun with it. I think that's the other thing. You've got to... I think it's got to be serious. And actually one of the nice things about Burberry is, you know, it's got some exuberance. It's got some joy, along with the intelligence Gracias ,总ม.

18:31a most remarkable rise in the last 10 years. I mean, the numbers, the increase, I mean, order of magnitude better than anybody else in the business, but driven by this sort of maximalist look, masterminded by Alessandro Michele. But he's gone now and they are slightly struggling to readjust from this sort of maximalist, you know, explosion of exuberance that they had and fun and quirk to something a little bit different. And they haven't got there yet. And one of the biggest challenges que la compañía de Caring have tenido que hacer para hacer Gucci down en un lugar donde no es solo un fashion powerhouse que siempre ha sido pero un comercial juggernaut que realmente delivers consistent revenue y profits porque es un poco todo el lugar en el momento pero es Gucci pero ellos están llegando es un cuestión de cómo tiempo Y John, yo quiero tocar en una pieza de la puzzle que es, yo imagino, quite impactful, which is the second-hand market.

19:31I mean, it is so buoyant. Obviously, consignment stores and eBay, these things have always existed. But, you know, Vinted, Depop and also luxury resellers have really, you know, stepped up their game in recent years. Do you think that, you know, the booming second-hand market is having a significant impact on luxury sales? Or do you think it's something that actually keeps brands going? porque si los que los productos son valientes, les podrían ser más probable que comprar. Creo que la segunda parte del mercado, la jure es un poco out on esto porque es un boom, pero no es muy claro cómo efecto es tener en el precio de la prensa, si lo que.

20:10Pero hay un descanso de success, si es un reflauente o vinted o incluso Runt the Runway, una de estas rentas organizaciones. Hay un montón de personas que no quieren comprar nuevos clothes anymore y están finding otras formas de encontrar their outfits. Ahora, no creo que se ve bien en el bottom de las grandes grandes grandes, pero es no imposible que se pueda llegar. Y creo que si yo era un gran grandes grandes, yo sería muy careful de hacer que sea que yo era un producto que provided un punto de entrada para full price o near full price, que un nuevo generación puede engage con. Es puede ser un t-shirt, puede ser un belt, puede ser un keyring, puede ser un baguero, Just something that says Look, come in here, there's something for you And because that generation If you lose any more of them You're going to be in trouble And in the end You want people to dream of the new new thing That's what people That's what creativity is all about Vintage is great It's all lovely to look at those things But actually anyone that's pushing the boundaries And the way that John Galliano did And Alexander McQueen And all these amazing people We need to get some of those back as well to try and get some excitement back.

21:20So I think what you'll be looking for is a mixture of fresh thinking, really, really great new aesthetics, great design, something to get really excited about, but also value, not just at the high end, but products that actually sort of give you a reason to interact with the brand. You see this actually quite cleverly in other sectors, like Ralph Lauren does Ralph's Coffee, which is really clever because you might just go in for coffee and buy something. Coffee in the Eagle, that's probably overpriced, but whatever. You know, it's kind of that smart. And you also see it in the watch industry with Omega and Blancpain doing these sort of quartz watches that you can get for a few hundred pounds, which is still quite a lot of money for a watch, but it's not very much money for an Omega or Blancpain, I can tell you.

22:04So again, those things, they don't devalue a much more expensive watch. They're just fun. And I think those watch brands have really shown the way that you can actually just have some affordable fun porque en el final, si fashion no es fun, ¿qué es lo que es la cosa? Es no, no, es no la segunda coming de Cristo. Este es como, te vas a ir a la hora, o lo que le ha, o lo que sea. Así que, ¿qué tal? Tiene que tener que divertirme y accesible a la gente. O sea, se vuelve más grave y es solo, ¿qué es así? Bueno, John, thanks so much for joining me en The Standard Podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure to speak with you.

22:40You're welcome. Thank you.

22:44And that is it for The Standard. For all of the latest news head over to standard.co.uk and if you're new here, go on, give us a little follow. If you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at podcast at standard.co.uk We'll be back here tomorrow morning and we'll see you then.

23:12¡Sobre año, César! ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Rafa! ¡Sopla, sopla! ¡Traigan la manguera que son 45! Cuando cumples 45, te toca soplar muchas velas y examinarte contra el cáncer de colon, ya que al detectarse temprano es más tratable en 9 de cada 10 personas. Usa la prueba de Cologuard en la privacidad de tu casa y envíala de regreso para obtener tus resultados. La prueba de Cologuard es una opción con receta para detectar el cáncer de colon en personas de 45 años o más con riesgo promedio. Resultados positivos deben ir seguidos de una colonoscopía. Pueden darse resultados falsos positivos y falsos negativos.

23:51La prueba de Cologuard no reemplaza la colonoscopía en pacientes de alto riesgo. No uses Cologuard si has tenido adenomas, si tienes enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal y ciertos síndromes hereditarios o un historial personal o familiar de cáncer de colon. Pide la prueba de Cologuard a tu médico. Para más información en español, visita cologuard.com-prueba.

24:36at EmpowerOurFutureCoalition.com slash solutions. Paid for by the coalition to empower our future. Reddit is where people go for real human advice. When you advertise on Reddit, your brand shows up alongside the most trusted recommendations on the internet. It's authentic, brand safe, and highly effective across your entire funnel. Ready to show up where people trust what they read? New advertisers spend$500 and get$500 in ad credit.

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From the publisher

The 2026 awards season delivered unforgettable fashion moments, from Jessie Buckley’s sculptural pink and red Chanel gown to Timothée Chalamet’s playful white Givenchy suit. Designers like Schiaparelli and Valentino dominated headlines, with the red carpet capturing the energy and creativity of major fashion weeks.


In this episode, host Tamara Kormornick is joined by business writer and branding specialist, John Arlidge, to discuss the changing landscape for legacy brands in a tougher environment. The two discuss the burgeoning second-hand market to the prevalence of high quality dupes, and ultimately, the downfall of the retail sector.


Photograph: Getty Images

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