Saint Laurent. Good enough won.
In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent sold clothes straight off the rail and people queued for three hours. Couture never recovered, and nobody automated it.
THE GIST ON YVES SAINT LAURENT: "Off the Rails"
What did Yves Saint Laurent do in 1966?
In 1966, a Paris couturier opened a shop selling clothes straight off the rail with his name on them. People queued for three hours to get in.
That was Yves Saint Laurent, and it killed the business he came from, because once people accept worse, there's no way back.
What was couture?
Couture was never a shop, it was a service. You went in, got measured, and a team of people spent hundreds of hours building a garment around your exact body. You'd have at least three fittings, and the whole price was in that.
A few hundred women in the world could afford it, and the workshops behind every great fashion house existed to serve them. Saint Laurent sold clothes in standard sizes to no one in particular.
Why did people choose worse?
The fit wasn't as good. Everyone who queued outside his shop was accepting a worse fit than couture, and they queued anyway, because it cost a fraction and they could walk out wearing it.
He bet that perfect wasn't what people wanted. He was right, and couture has never recovered.
How does work usually disappear?
Nobody automated those seamstresses. Nothing was invented that could replace what they did. The work vanished because the thing they were brilliant at, a garment fitted to one body, stopped being what anybody was buying. Their skill was still unmatched, it just stopped mattering.
That's how work usually disappears: not with a machine that does your job, but with a customer who decides they don't need it done that well. It's already happened to the tailor, the cobbler, and the man who fixes basically anything nowadays. The craft was fine, the standard dropped, and no one complained, because the cheaper version was good enough and it was here today. What are you settling for?
Would you pay for a made to measure suit?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What did Yves Saint Laurent change in 1966?
He opened a shop selling clothes straight off the rail in standard sizes, and people queued for three hours to get in.
What was couture?
A service. You were measured, had at least three fittings, and a team spent hundreds of hours building a garment around your exact body.
How does work usually disappear?
Not through a machine doing your job, but through customers deciding they don't need it done that well.
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