What lies in the future for the evolution of Fashion Weeks?

Author Jordan Anderson
Creative Direction and Artwork Samy LaCrapule
Look Dior SS20
Production nss factory

Since its inception, every major evolution to the structure of fashion week has been made only as a result of adapting to the growing number of press coverage the events drew throughout each season and century.

However for the first time in history , as a result of COVID-19, as architects of a now solid multibillion dollar system, we are objectively looking at the skyscraper of an industry we’ve built and asking ourselves what is the purpose of it all ? We are thinking realistically about the question of climate change, as Mother Nature has backed us in a corner staring us down with the perfect opportunity for change that would not only benefit her but the industry as well in the long run.

We recently chose to analyse the possibilities of what lies ahead for the event’s future, with the help of M1992 co-designer Gaia Ramona & Mytheresa Fashion Buying Director Tiffany Hsu.

In taking a few steps back, as industry insiders we can all note that the custom of fashion week is a fundamental part of the system that serves to the benefit of many. Fashion shows act as a sort of conference for the industry to convene and decide what’s next. It’s one of the only moments in which designers, journalists, buyers, influencers, models and the product are in the same space at the same time. For each person involved, the event serves a different purpose.

For journalists and critics it is one of the most fruitful times of the year for work ; for buyers it entails a series of up-close interactions and encounters with the products that they may potentially purchase; for influencers it’s a prime period for the creation of digital content; for models it represents a key point in the journey their careers ; and for brands it is the moment in which they have the opportunity to define their creative voices with aesthetic productions and/or VIP Alignment.

The current fashion structure is a jam packed system that includes the production for seasonal RTW runway shows four times a year across 4-10 different cities; Haute Couture shows twice a year; Cruise shows once a year; pre-fall & pre-spring collections and the occasional international trade shows at least twice a year. The pace at which the industry currently runs is undoubtedly problematic, and calls into question the general necessity of fashion week events. This difficult yet necessary question is finally being posed on whether the format of this cherished tradition still serves us.

For younger brands in particular, these physical events are symbolic of a christening, as a brand’s first show is seen as their official ingress into the industry. For young Italian brand M1992 for example, their first show in 2017 was an important part of the brand’s launch.

“for us, fashion week was fundamental, the support we got from the Camera Nazionale Della Moda Italiana (CNMI) to create that production defined and delineated the route that the brand would further take. It afforded us a solid and credible base, ”
Gaia Ramona, M1992 designer

So the core argument at hand isn’t about if the concept of fashion week is still relevant, as it evidently is, but rather if its current structure and pace — one that has been around in the exact form for at least the past 20 years — is still in sync with the customer demand and sustainable for the industry’s future.

It’s essentially asking the question if this format will be able to last us for the next 20 years to come, and many within the industry have already casted their opposing votes towards a revision of the fashion week Calendar, some even being industry behemoths like Giorgio Armani & Dries Van Noten. Others have even already taken the actual steps by announcing their withdrawal from the traditional fashion week calendar, be it names like Kerring helmed houses Gucci & Saint Laurent, while all LVMH brands are currently silent.

A revised calendar proposed by a group of designers suggests for the presentation of the product to be reduced only to two times a year. Which would mean instead of staging shows in January, February, June & September, the major productions might take place in January for Spring Summer men & women & in June for Autumn Winter men & women. In the case that the industry does take this route in lessening the amount of shows per year, this might have an effect on the industry’s buying and selling cycle, industry perception and might perhaps even influence changes in traditional professional roles.

So it seems that not many industry insiders are worried about the consequences that these potential changes might bring for now, but it must be considered that less shows a year, does not necessarily mean less clothing will be produced. In the calendar proposed, each of the in between collections, being cruise & pre-collections are still existent, which means in the case of sustainability, this new system will only help through the merging of women’s & menswear collections and the lowering of carbon footprint as editors will have to travel less, which may become questionable for the houses that still choose to produce an additional 4-5 collections per year.

This is of course the best case scenario in the case where the industry comes together and makes a decision to move forward in one direction. However if not, if each house chooses to act independently as we’ve been seeing so far, it could risk creating a double or triple system where there are less shows that are spread throughout the year, which would be just as bad for the environment as showing 4-8 times a year.

“The role of the buyer [will] remain the same, as our job is to pick and choose the best product for our business. For now it means less travelling for buying appointments, but we can just wait and see what the future will bring and how the brands are organizing themselves,”
explained Tiffany Hsu, Fashion Buying Director at Mytheresa
from her point of view.

However in the case that things result in the industry uniting, the reality is that brands will have less opportunities for tangible experiences with their audiences, which would demand for a growth in their digital presence.

The need for a virtual reality is currently rising as possibilities for virtual fashion shows, virtual buying experience & apps are being explored by brands like GUCCI, among others.

“The possibilities and alternatives are truly numerous and at the availability of us creatives, but everything would require initial efforts to be made by the bigger houses to help convey this new energy and new way of thinking. Big brands and big companies are fundamental in this moment to set a good example and to give a hand in showcasing the new fruits that were born through moments of tension.”
Gaia Ramona, M1992 designer

But as we previously explored, the likelihood of these digital projects replacing the physical events is highly unlikely, mainly because fashion weeks also serve alternate purposes of networking aside from showing to an audience of consumers that digital platforms simply cannot provide.

However it must be noted that less shows will mean more efforts will be put into the ones that do happen, which means we can probably foresee changes in the traditional structure of a fashion show, merging menswear and womenswear might result in bigger collections which could push the average fashion show to last 30-40 mins instead of 15-20.

Bigger budgets may allow for more theatrics to occur, perhaps these advancements will allow for the digital revolutions to take place within fashion shows, with a further exploration of holograms, robots, and screen manipulation like Gucci’s FW20 show that turned the concept of a fashion show inside out , or Rihanna’s 2019 Fenty show that rekindled the value of living in the moment where cell phones were taken away and guests were treated to entire performances that eventually made its way to Amazon Prime Video.

Perhaps what we should expect is a fusion of fashion and cinema , will Gucci SS23 be in collaboration with Netflix ? Or could Balenciaga SS23 be a production created with NASA or Elon Musk? The major evolutions of fashion week will likely entail these little things -- a transformation in the way in which we experience the events in themselves. The happenings of the past few months is what should be the driving force in pushing the industry further, thankfully not towards the abolishment of the events, but rather towards catching up with the evolution of technology and allowing for these showcases to be a matter of quantity over quality.

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Author Jordan Anderson
Creative Direction and Artwork Samy LaCrapule
Look Dior SS20
Production nss factory