Let’s begin this part of the series with the Retailers. Do you guys know that most stores today have become vertical operations? They are textile designers, fashion designers, garment manufacturers and retailers, All-In-One.

Is it possible to be a retail expert, fashion designer, textile professional, and garment manufacturer and have long term success? How can you achieve the highest performance when your focus  is so diluted?

Has retail greed cut out the art of fashion and destroyed our fashion system?

There are probably thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of fashion labels that belong to major retailers around the world. The opening of foreign markets has allowed these corporations to have direct access to a vast array of everything they need to produce for themselves at lower costs. Major Stores have opened markets and created jobs in foreign 3^rd world countries to make themselves richer and our own people poorer while exploiting the underprivileged. The disregard for our own people and for the transformation and preservation of fashion and it’s future is a grand shame and an inadequate long-term attitude. We have already begun to see and feel the results of their actions. There is much more poor quality clothing cramming stores today than well-made attire. I call most of it “Disposable Threads.”

A big percentage of stores emulate each other since they have assumed for themselves  new titles as designers and manufacturers. Has fashion transformed itself into a homogeneous market? I’ve had friends visit New York telling me most of the time they have no idea what stores they are in because they  all appear to be alike. I thought I was the only one that perceived this, but apparently society is beginning to notice that we are ceasing to possess our individuality.

Retailers are the first to blame for the deterioration of the art of fashion. In an effort to slash their costs, they have eliminated the hierarchy of the Fashion System, leaving us in a lost arena. Governments have allowed this to take place by permitting and supporting excessive import businesses and ignoring to promote, fund and grant incentives to domestic based talent and manufacturing. Instead, they have lifted quotas, encouraged globalization and invested themselves in foreign 3^rd world countries for their own immediate  benefit. What happened to our philosophy of   “Made in the USA?” What about Our Country and Our People?

How can an artist compete with a large conglomerate? Where is that artist going to sell their concepts since the retailers have reserved their space for themselves and products they are producing on their own? How can designers compete against these giants in producing and marketing their ideas and products?

Are we, the designers, supposed to concentrate on becoming  textile engineers, garment manufacturers and retailer experts in order to survive? Can we actually succeed or are we just left to wilt? Let’s say we have the ability to accomplish it all, where do we find the financial support to make this realistic?  Are those who will succeed only the wealthy or the lucky that land into the hands of money and fortune?

It has all become a far-fetched dream for the ordinary talented artist, forcing us to lose our independence and submitting ourselves to a damaged system. I guess, if you really want to follow your dream but don’t have the power, you are now obliged to go to work for the retailers, designing and producing their products according to their demands in order to generate earnings for themselves while developing other countries’ economies in pursuit of their own profitable well being. It is so unfortunate, we have to surrender ourselves to all of this and lose our identity in order to pursue our talents and survive as artists.

Our future remains in question as we await to see what turns the Retail Industry will decide to  take next…

Stay tuned for Part V!

Lots of Luv-

Maria

Lost Identity in Pursuit of Money!

I haven’t written in a while because I was on vacation, attempting to wind down, clear my head and begin a new season in a lucid state. Unfortunately, the break was cut short because of my career. I had to pick up and book the next flight out of Greece to China. I’m sitting in Dubai’s Airport, waiting for a connection to the opposite side of the world. Many might think this is exciting, but after you do it once it doesn’t seem as exciting anymore…

One day I will write and direct a documentary on Fashion, but about Reality and not the Fantasy World television projects it to be.

If you are thinking of a Fashion Career, make sure you do self-examination. Are you Hard as a Rock??????

Follow me as I will continue my Fashion History Series..

Lots of Love from Dubai!

Maria

Photographed on Skopelos, Greece-August 2010

Does the government care about the people who worked their whole lives in textile manufacturing and, generations upon generations, were taught and trained on how textile machinery operated and fibers were spun into yarns and converted into fabrics?

Does the government even acknowledge the kind of impact this had on jobs in America not only for those people who worked at manufacturing the fabrics, but also on the entire Fashion System?

Are you guys aware that the profession, Textile Designer, is almost extinct as an employment opportunity in America?

I have many textile designer friends in the trade who were left jobless and had to scramble to alter their lives in order to survive. As a matter of fact, I also know of a few that haven’t yet recovered at all. They are still jobless!

What about garment manufacturing? Do you guys know that most garment manufacturing facilities in America were also forced to shut down because they could not compete with the Asian imports as well. I was raised in a garment manufacturing facility. My family immigrated to the United States and got jobs as sewers. Eventually, they opened their own facility. This is where I learned most of my skills that made me into what I am today. My family was one of the many that were forced to shut down their operation. They were obligated to tell over 100 workers, sorry but we won’t be able to put food on your table this year, because we can’t continue to financially operate  and  compete against the Asia imports.

So let me break it down for you.

If we have no Textile Mill Facilities left, then we have no one to research new and innovative fibers and no one to develop and produce fabrics. If we have no Textile Designers left, then we have no one to build color palettes, create textures and inspire us with innovative new print ideas. If we have no Garment Manufacturing Companies left, then even if we source fabrics and textile ideas in other countries, we have no one to make our garments here in the US.  So where does that leave US, the DESIGNERS??????

Stay tuned for Part IV…Love-Maria

I shot this in NY..Ironic...

A Textile Mill’s duty was to research new and innovative fibers and utilize them in the development of contemporary fabric bases in order to inspire and direct the Textile and Fashion Designers. A Textile Designer’s job was to research and develop new innovative ideas for colors, textures and prints to cater to the Fashion Designers’ aspirations. A Fashion Designer’s job was to create masterpiece silhouettes with the materials provided by the Textile Mills and Designers that would influence society and culture. A Manufacturer’s obligation was to produce the final products with the utmost quality for the above chain. Essentially, this System allowed Retailers to have access to an array of inspirational, diverse and creative assortments available to merchandise their space. Ultimately, this gave You and I, WE or US, and or Society a Progressive Identity.

Check back for Part III on this Historical Fashion Tour and my life and career in the Fashion Arena!

Love Always-Maria

Japanese Intricate Cob Webbed Wool with Woven Faux Fur

Photo: www.robepstein.com

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If you search on line, you are more than likely to find quite a few vintage Maria Dionisiou coats for women and girls…I retired the Maria Dionisiou label a few years ago..Go ahead, ask me why? It’s a very long tale but Maria Dionisiou, was always meant to be a designer upscale label made with lots of love, innate creativity and exquisite luxurious fabrics. I’m saving the MD Name and plan to take it out of retirement when the time is just right for both you and me. In the meantime, don’t get lost, I’m still out there giving you the latest fashion with a great fit at affordable prices… Look for MARIA, Maria D. and Fleece-Out by Maria,  if you’re a true Fan! Love Always-Maria

by Maria

available at www.alloy.com

Yellow is known to be psychologically the happiest color in the spectrum.

I took this picture at the Standard Hotel  (www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city)  in New York City because I was captivated with their painted Yellow luggage carts.  There is definitely an energy and a sense of happiness that appears to fill the air at the Standard.

Are  these Yellow Luggage Carts radiating this Meatpacking  Establishment?

Love, Maria

I have led and lead a very interesting life and for those of you who decide to follow my blog, I want You to get to know Me as a person, but ultimately my goal is to inspire you to begin each day as a new beginning, full of love and passion for what you believe in.

My blog is meant to focus on myself, fashion, and what inspirations help me interpret my form of art.

The first appearance of light in the sky as the sun rises at the beginning of a new day is the definition of Dawn. I took this picture of New York at Dawn from the Jersey Side because of the serenity New York portrays when that sun is just rising and converted it into my own cutout. We often look at New York as a frenzied city and fail to notice it’s incredible beauty when the animal is still asleep.  Reality is, when you look at the City at Dawn, it’s not as frightening as it appears to be.  Working in the City my whole career, I’ve had and still have my struggles to win, but I was never frightened, because I always seem to look at New York at Dawn. A New Beginning! A New Day!

Love-Maria

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