Stylish Economics

As the global economy struggles to pick up the pieces from the recession, it’s not just auto companies and investment banks that are looking for stimulus money. The world of $2,000 handbags and $4,000 dresses needs a little help too.

The drop in the economy has taken the demand for luxury goods down with it. Understandably, this demand has been replaced by demand for things like jobs and food. But it means the end of things like Christian Lacroix Couture. Christian Lacroix, known for his whimsical “poof” dresses, is the latest designer to fall victim to the claws of the recession. And he is far from the first. As the effects of economic decline seep into all areas of life, many high-end French designers have had to close their doors.

But if Anna Wintour has her way, no more fashion houses will meet the same fate. In town for Paris Fashion Week, Wintour, the be-all, end-all editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine -- also known as the inspiration for the nasty Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada -- called for state intervention on behalf of the ailing fashion industry. (See The Wall Street Journal’s Coverage of Wintour’s Fashion Stimulus.)

And her all-powerful hold over the fashion world doesn’t appear to have lost its touch. Last week, industry minister Christian Estrosi announced plans for improving national support of the fashion industry, including lifting 35-hour workweek limits for fashion shows and providing more financial support for new designers.

Poof skirts and shoes seem rather irrelevant in the face of a 10 percent unemployment rate in the United States and a massive federal deficit. Chances are, most unemployed Americans aren’t too concerned about the fact that they may never buy Christian Lacroix Couture again. Chances are, they probably never would have cared to begin with.

But in France, fashion is more than just a luxury; it’s an industry. Fashion is responsible for 125,000 jobs in France. It’s not on the same scale as Walmart, which provides over 10,000 jobs in Oregon alone. But a job is a job. And while I don’t exactly feel sorry for Wintour and the terrible loss she felt at missing out on the hottest item from Christian Lacroix, when the fashion house closed, it took people’s jobs with it. And losing a job designing clothes hurts just as much as losing a job making steel or working in a grocery store.

--Brooke Sutherland