Living: Fall Fashions: Buying the Line

Or, a crash course in chic merchandising madness

Sure, the clothes are beautiful. But there are problems. There are questions.

Will customers understand the Ferré lapel that eases down to the waist and folds over like a scarf? How about that Comme des Garçons dress—is that the armhole or the neckband, and where does all that damned draping go? Do clients want to be elegant and easy with Armani, gilded with Lagerfeld, transported by Miyake to some astral plane where clothes, craft and fine art all cozy up? Do they want to stay with the...