fashion is a dog-eat-dog business

Karl and Tommy, at playIt seems that Dog #1, we'll call him Karl Lagerfeld, was swallowed up by Dog #2, we'll call him Tommy Hilfiger, who in turn was swallowed up recently by junk-yard dog (the most aggressive of this creature) Dog #3, whom we'll call 'a private equity fund,' and pulled the plug on Dog #1. In my opinion, Dog #1 is really the Top Dog and Dog #3 wouldn't know a Top Dog if he bit