Another smart thing Slimane did at Dior was to create a dazzling show on the catwalk, while delivering the basic uniform of jeans, T-shirts, and leather jackets to the stores. And while this proved to be a very successful business model that designers like Rick Owens have adopted, Doma wants to do something different. “I cannot see people wearing jeans and leather jackets and jerseys anymore,” he said. “This is something that exists since 2002 and I want it to stop. At least I want to see something else and I hope that people will start to change. I think this is not modern anymore. I wonder why it’s still there, probably because the whole business has changed. There are so many big brands now and they keep probably about seventy percent of their collections as the core, always the same leather jackets, denims, T-shirts. And this is why fashion feels safe at the moment. The buyers will often go for the basic stuff and not the stuff that the designers offer on the catwalks, because that’s risky. It must be frustrating for the designers.“ Indeed, the day before when I interviewed Rick Owens, who put on a stellar and edgy show, he expressed similar frustration. “It’s easy to show the hardcore stuff on the runway,” Owens said. “What’s really hardcore is people wearing it.”
    Doma’s insistence on developing his own esthetic is a mark of not only determination, but also of talent. Designers who have their own voice, who create a new aesthetic, are the ones that make fashion exciting, because it widens the scope of creativity in an industry where it is constrained by commerce and the issue of wearability. Whether a designer’s voice suits you personally is not important. “The people I sometimes talk to, they don’t always like my designs, and that’s okay,” Doma said. I don’t have to cater to everyone.”