1
Move: Moschino puts hundreds of “real people” on the runway.
Moschino invited hundreds of people to walk its runway in Milan. They wore their own clothes and walked in the opposite direction to the models. Bringing “real people” onto the runway is not a new move. Dolce & Gabbana cast 70 men from the streets of Sicily in 2012.
Signal: We want aspiration to look more like us.
Fashion has always been built on aspiration. Models walk and people watch. One side presents the world of the brand and the other side imagines themselves in it. Moschino disrupted this - suddenly the runway was also showing us ourselves. Aspiration makes fashion desirable but so does recognition.
Why did they walk against each other?
If they had walked together, in the same direction, it would have been inclusion. Walking against each other created tension. Fashion as designed and fashion as lived are two worlds that co-exist and shape one another, yet remain separate. Perhaps this was not about bringing the real world into fashion, but showing us the distance that still exists between them.
If you liked this see Beryl Cook in Signals & Moves Edition #19: Privacy, Pleasure and Play

2
Move: Goyard wins a 14 year battle over Fauré Le Page.
Goyard has won a legal battle against Fauré Le Page over its use of the date “1717”, because it implied the current business was founded over 300 years ago. The original Maison Fauré Le Page was founded in 1716 as an arms business and dissolved in 1992. The current business was created in 2009 and did not continue the original operations.
Signal: In luxury, age is part of the product.
A founding date is more than a fact - in luxury, it gives us history and technique. We are buying the knowledge passed down through generations and the idea that something has survived because it deserves to. A date creates value, which is why Goyard challenged one older than theirs, when it wasn’t true.
Should Fauré Le Page replace 1717 with 2009?
Does it need to have a date at all? Modern luxury brands have proven that desirability does not need centuries of history. Heritage is not the only way to create value. But, if you cannot own the past, you must make people want the present.

3
Move: Audible lets listeners talk to fictional characters.
Audible is experimenting with a new AI powered feature called “Interactive Story” that gives listeners a role and allows them to interact directly with fictional characters. The feature is in trial with Dracula in the US and UK.
Signal: We want to interact with what we imagine.
Stories have always asked us to imagine. We build the character in our head, wonder why they responded a certain way and develop feelings about them. The author creates, but we paint. Interaction changes that, because the more we are given, the less we imagine.
What will we lose when we don’t have to imagine?
The gaps in a story belong to us. When technology fills them in, we win an answer but lose what we might have imagined ourselves. Instead of needing answers, could we learn to love the gaps? Because that is where we get to create.
Read Audible’s Newsroom Post: The next chapter in listening

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Image reference: Moschino
Sources: Associated Press, SHOWstudio, The Fashion Magazine, Cour de cassation, Out-Law, The Fashion Law, Audible, TechCrunch