Just after his recent couture show, the designer Jean-Paul Gaultier prophesied: "We are going to extremes: couture and the Internet," he said. "The middle is disappearing."
The middle, of course, is the old way of shopping (in real time, on foot, during opening hours) and Gaultier's forecasts have a way of coming true (underwear did become outerwear). So is the old way really giving way to online retail?
Last year, Gaultier became the first designer to open his own Web boutique. This month sees the opening of the Gucci site, as well as Boo.com, a high-style sportswear site which aims to be the Amazon.com of fashion and is backed by, among others, French luxury goods group LVMH. Joining them will be luxuryfinder.com, the RollsRoyce of websites, which will offer such (in)essential items as Fendi bags and Barry Kieselstein-Cord accessories.
The select stuff that until now has been the preserve of super-fashionable shopping streets the world over is becoming available to the pickiest consumers with just one click. It seems "everyone" wants to be part of the "Net set" now.
By opening these sites, retailers are simply chasing the market. According to a recent report from the Web watchdogs Commercenet and Neilsen Media Research, web trade has increased by 40 per cent in the space of nine months, with clothing purchases by women up 118 per cent.
Which raises the question: is this all as good as it sounds? Here in the no-man's land between the end of the sales and the arrival of autumn fashions, it seemed an opportune moment to find out. I gathered my site addresses, compiled my wish list (one of Gaultier's sequinned sweater sets, a sheepskin coat, a Ghost dress), plugged in my modem, and surfed. And I bought . . . nothing.
It's not that I am afraid of sending my credit card number into the ether (most sites take security precautions), but the truth is that it takes a certain kind of person, and personality, to buy online. Though I am not that far from the demographic profile of an e-shopper (middle-income, early 30s, time-challenged, urban), I am in fact a bad fit.
"People who shop online tend to be surgical shoppers," says Loel McPhee, director of strategic partnerships at Commercenet. In others words, they target their prize, go in, get it, and get out. I browse.
"They also want to be in control, and they value efficiency highly," continues McPhee. While I can see the advantages of this - you avoid pushy or intimidating salespeople, and don't have to run around trying to find someone who can get your size - the process can still be frustrating and ineffective.
Today's trend is toward what the Harvard Business Review has called "the experience economy", placing as high a premium on the experience of doing something as on the result. What you find online can be the "anti-experience economy". Waiting for the entire catalogue of chic French label APC to download, even if you have a relatively fast modem, can take up to five minutes. That may not sound like a lot, but when you are staring at the screen, it seems aeons.
Then there's the screen resolution. Again, I have a fairly good computer, but half the time I couldn't tell what I was looking at. The caption at the Ghost site told me I was seeing a georgette trim white cardigan (£155 sterling or €232), but I had to take their word for it. And what to make of J. Crew's colour palette? A cashmere cardigan ($185 or €171) came in such lyrical but indefinable shades as "orchid" and "azure heather".
It's tough trying to marry the physical with virtual reality. As we know, all size 10s are not created equal. Without being able to try something on - without knowing the idiosyncracies of certain designers (Donna Karan and Nicole Farhi cut large, while Marc Jacobs cuts for pygmies; Christian Louboutin makes very narrow shoes, while Nine West caters to broader American feet) how do you know if what you're buying will fit?
Various sites offer various solutions. Levi's "draws" legs into its jeans to show you how its khaki cargos ($29.99) billow around the calves, and its stretch pedal pushers (also selling for $29.99) caress the thighs. The site will also rotate the clothes for you so you can see the rear view. A nice touch - but it still pales in comparison with the real thing. Boo.com is promising an even more three-dimensional experience in future: the ability to scan body measurements to ensure ideal fit, and animated models to illustrate the look.
The solution to a bad fit, of course, is a return (Boo will be sending out labels with its goods just in case), but for lazy people like me, this almost makes it seem not worth the effort. Still, there are a few instances when shopping the Net makes sense.
First, re-orders. If you know exactly what kind of Levi's you want, from size to style, how great not to have to trek down to the store to discover they have sold out, but to hop online and order.
Likewise, the Web solves the problem of inaccessible outlets. Americans long ago learned to rely on J. Crew and Banana Republic for basics. These are companies with no branches overseas, but very well-developed websites. Even better, the sites are far easier to find than any real store and the address is usually obvious: www.(name of designer).com.
Finally, none of my earlier quibbles applies to accessories. A size 10 may not be a size 10, but a nylon Prada bag is a nylon Prada bag. It's no accident that at the Gaultier shop there are fewer clothes than bags and sunglasses. At the Bluefly site you can buy Gene Meyer's super-colourful ties at a discount ($29.95), as well as men's Gucci loafers ($185). I still think personal shopping should be a bit of an adventure, however. The fact is I like the experience of touching clothes, rifling through the racks, taking time away from my computer, never knowing what unexpected garment will strike a lustful chord. I am still in the middle of the Gaultier spectrum, and when I haltingly explain this to McPhee, she says: "It's hard to get people to give up old habits. But you can get them to adopt a second habit."
Designer shopping sites:
www.ghost.ltd.uk
www.salvatoreferragamo.com
www.diesel.com
www.gucci.com
www.apc.fr
www.redordead.co.uk
www.paulsmith.co.uk
www.thomaspink,co.uk
Sportswear:
www.levi.com
www.landsend.com
www.thegap.com
www.jcrew.com
www.bananarepublic.com
Department stores: (discount)
www.designerdirect.com and www.bluefly.com
www.boo.com
www.tops.co.uk
www.zoom.co.uk
www.bestofbritish.com
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