Fashion Week Has Changed Beyond Recognition. What Next?
By Áine Rose Campbell
Last season, we saw Fashion Week embrace a new normal— cutting down on jet setting emissions, nearly eliminating the front row, or using deadstock material. Many brands even pulled out of Fashion Week altogether. The circus that Fashion Week became is now a digital offering that is helping to nudge fashion toward a more sustainable and equitable future.
For instance, Dolce & Gabbana, a brand that epitomises opulence and outlandishness, recycled old fabric from past seasons to reduce the environmental impact of its show in Milan. Instead of flying in models from all over the world, many designers chose to book new and local models, making their shows less about who is on the runway and more about the clothing. Plus, by breaking the hierarchy of “it” faces, other models had the chance to book jobs that could change their career. When Versace cancelled her show with one week’s notice, no one raised an eyebrow. Comme des Garçons, a Japanese brand, decided not to show in Paris as usual, but to stay in Tokyo and show outside of the official calendar in October. In NYC, Prabal Gurang decided not to have a show, stating; “Everyone in the industry was running around playing catch up, with no actual goal in sight... Whatever we put out there has to have a reason for its existence; pretty clothes are no longer enough.” Many designers followed suit, declining to take part including Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Proenza Schouler and Marc Jacobs. Digital streaming has given people across the world access to view the collections at the same time as influencers and editors. And, so many designers, who had previously faced high barriers to entry because of cost and rigid scheduling rules, got the chance to show.
A year ago, suggesting something like this to anyone who partakes in Fashion Week would have seen you laughed out of the building, but this format is going to continue next season too, after which the massively digital aspect of Fashion Week will feel familiar and no doubt roll on into all following seasons.
The fate of the upcoming Paris Fashion Week (19-24 Jan) was sealed by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode who advised brands that they are not allowed to invite guests this season. Under police instruction, French fashion’s organising body said physical gatherings were prohibited, and there should be no public attendance. In a statement to The Associated Press, the federation said: "we confirm that there can be no public gatherings" at Paris Fashion Week, adding that "houses can still organise ‘real’ runway shows with models broadcast live, provided that their events take place behind closed doors."
Likewise, the British Fashion Council has confirmed that February’s London Fashion Week will be going ahead, but as an online-only event. In a bid to balance being Covid safe, with ensuring fashion businesses can continue to operate, the British Fashion Council has settled on a digital-only event that will run from 19-23 January. Shows, presentations and installations will be filmed and photographed but not take place with an invited audience. This is a slight departure from last season when a small handful of brands staged socially-distanced shows and presentations, among them Bora Aksu, Mark Fast and Eudon Choi.
Towards a more sustainable and equitable fashion industry
What next now that the fashion industry has shown itself to be capable of such drastic change? It’s time to turn our full attention to making our clothes in a radically more sustainable and equitable way. Six ways to achieve this include:
Regenerative agriculture which revives and strengthens the soil and the nature around it.
Making garments from recycled materials which saves them from landfill.
Working more closely with the artisan sector which is the second biggest driver of developing economies and which also allows many indigenous skills to be preserved.
Ensuring fair, liveable wages to those that make our clothes.
Blockchain supply tracing to provide brands and consumers more transparency around how and where their clothes are made.
Using storytelling in media to change the way people understand fashion from a form of consumption to a form of self expression.