Rule Breakers Remake the Fashion Calendar
This article is an online version of the print article for the S/S ‘20 Lexington Line edition. The print version can be viewed here!
source: nowfashion.com
The digital advancements of the 21st century and constant rebelling of designers have caused the fashion calendar to change, disrupting the way we shop retail and consume content. Watching fashion shows is easier than ever because of social media apps, and many brands are using their Instagram and YouTube accounts to livestream their collections for anyone that has access to a phone.
This instant global connection marks a dramatic change. Fashion shows were once an exclusive affair, and consumers had to wait months to see the clothes, but now we expect everything as soon as possible. In the past couple of years, a few designers have even been trying out “see now, buy now,” but it hasn’t proven to be the game changer the industry expected.
Rule-breaking designers are now showing between seasons, choosing locations outside the traditional congested fashion week areas and showing both menswear and womenswear in unison when they used to be shown separately. Jacquemus showed its A/W 2020 collection during Men’s Fashion Week and featured clothing suitable for any gender. Ralph Lauren was absent during February’s NYFW; he decided to show his collection in April instead (due to the pandemic they opted for a lookbook instead). Even Tom Ford decided to show his A/W 2020 collection in the City of Angels instead of the City that Never Sleeps.
source: stylecaster.com
In the past, Ralph Lauren has shown in more intimate settings that contrast New York’s bustling Spring Studios, opting for locations like private garages and custom-made pop-ups. More recently, Moschino showed its A/W 2020 collection in the New York Transit Museum, complete with models walking through subway cars.
Designers are trying to show their collections in creative ways to get through all the digital clutter; many of them have been choosing presentations, short films, museum-style exhibitions, and interactive events over runway shows.
This has become overwhelming for many designers, since they are producing about five to six collections per year, and constantly trying to stand out can be draining. “I have very mixed emotions about Fashion Week in general. I think the hype is crazy. I have FOMO for sure,” says Jane Siskin, founder of Cinq à Sept.
Fashion week was called “Press Week” when it first began in 1943. During WWII, American journalists weren’t able to travel to Paris to cover the fashion that was showing overseas and instead began focusing on American designers. This led to more American designers being featured in prominent magazines like Vogue. Then, in 1993, the Council of Fashion Designers of America decided to unify all the fashion week events in Bryant Park under a collection of white tents, later dubbed “7th on Sixth.”
In 2010, the tents were ditched and fashion week moved to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Then in 2015, they officially moved the event to Spring Studios. But now, some designers are opting instead for any location that will make a big splash. This has resulted in an array of different show locations all over the city.
“I feel bad for my friends who are editors that run further and harder than before,” says Graham Tyler, designer for Graham Tyler. Since the shows are now more spread out, many fashion week attendees are choosing to stay home and watch the shows live from their computer because it’s easier than trekking from uptown to downtown.
Many are worried that fashion week is dying because of all of the radical changes. The truth is that people prefer experiencing something novel nowadays over receiving a material item. Shows remind consumers to buy clothing, which is why designers are choosing interactive events that not only influence us to purchase items but try to make our experience with that brand memorable.
Fashion show producer Alexandre de Betak is known for modernizing fashion shows by creating a magical experience ideal for digital exposure. He started his career in the late ‘80s when fashion was exclusively for press, buyers, and clients. Then TV started taking interest in covering fashion shows as soon as they happened. De Betak shortened the shows to approximately 15 minutes because they were “too long and too boring,” de Batek says.
The internet eventually caught on, and De Betak worked on the first livestreamed Victoria’s Secret show in 2000, which literally broke the internet. From that point on, fashion shows became accessible to anyone.
“The change of audience and technological advances lead us now to completely revolutionize [the fashion show calendar],” de Batek says on Fashion No Filter, a podcast run by fashion journalists Camille Charriere and Monica Ainley.
De Betak has also helped change the industry standard. He produced the Spring 2020 Jacquemus show, which took place outside of Paris in a lavender field in Provence. Charriere said it felt like an intimate wedding because only a few people were able to take the train down to Provence that Monday.
“It was not only in the middle of nowhere, but it was out of the old context of fashion weeks. It was whenever, wherever,” de Betak says.
He has been on the forefront of revolutionizing the fashion calendar and hopes it will continue to progress. “I think that the traditional fashion week format of the same people, in the same city, at the same time, will have to change.”
One thing that fashion has taught us time and time again is that rules are meant to be broken. It is no surprise that this old adage is now playing out in one of the most important aspects of the industry.
The pandemic has further altered the fashion calendar. Saint Laurent set the precedent for other designers to use this as an opportunity to change when they’ll be showing their collections. Saint Laurent released a statement stating that they’ll “take control of its pace and reshape it’s schedule.” Only time will tell, but it seems as the traditional fashion calendar is out the window.