New York Fashion Week Review – Must the Show Go On?
Hello and welcome to the 23rd issue of moderated, a newsletter created to dive into insights and phenomenons in the Fashion Industry. It also has a curation and summary of the most talked last week’s events of the industry, offering further readings for more details.
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In this week’s moderated, I did a review of the highlights of the New York Fashion Week and reflected if the effort of putting out a show during pandemic times is actually worth it.
But before jumping into the main article, check the last week’s recap of the Fashion Industry.
Last Week’s Recap
Amazon Just Made a Move on the Luxury Market E-Commerce
Amazon has been trying to attract luxury brands to its platform for the whole last decade without success, by even sponsoring the Met Gala and fashion weeks. Last Tuesday, Amazon launched a program called Luxury Stores, which seems to be finally coming strong for the luxury sector. The new feature is a glossy in-app section where luxury brands can create their own selling space and not get mixed up with the other products available at Amazon. Similar to Farfetch, Luxury Stores will allow brands to control their inventory and pricing strategy. The new feature is only available for the US Prime members by invite only. So far, only Oscar de la Renta and Roland Mouret joined the platform, but according to an Amazon spokesperson, more brands will be joining in the following weeks. The move resembles the Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavillion platform that is extremely successful in China.
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Avail Launches Community-Led Runway Concept
Founded by Noëmie Haverhals in 2019, Avail is a social shopping app for independent brands that has been gaining notoriety. On 15 September, the app launched a new feature: the Avail Remote Runway. The tool offers brands on the platform the possibility to showcase their products with remote fashion shows. For the feature’s launch, Avail organised the first community-driven runway show with the participation of influencers and brands from all over Europe. The show may not have made the noise Avail was expecting, but this feature is a step towards the fashion shows democratization with traditional fashion weeks losing their strengths due to the pandemic and having to deliver collections in a digital format.
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TikTok Unites With Luxury Brands to Launch ‘TikTok Fashion Month’
With fashion weeks having to reinvent themselves during the coronavirus pandemic, it was only a matter of time to have digital platforms trying to tap into this new ‘digital fashion week’ format. If now Instagram has supremacy on the social media fashion content, TikTok is on a mission to get a piece of the pie. Last week, the Chinese short videos social media TikTok announced it would be hosting a Fashion Month on its platform. The tech giant is partnering with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, JW Anderson, and many more to live stream two fashion shows a week. There are also new video effects with the theme of the fashion month that are already available for users and will stay at the platform until 8 October.
According to CeCe Vu, TikTok's fashion content partnerships lead, the month-long event will not only help designers to increase their collection’s visibility but also allow them to access a whole new young demographics. Will TikTok turn the digital fashion week format around?
You can read more about the TikTok Fashion Month at The Guardian and at Business Insider.
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Vogue Runway Relaunches Its Platform
If you read last week’s moderated newsletter, you are already familiar with Vogue Runway, if not check it here. But last week, when I wrote about it, I didn’t know yet that the platform was about to relaunch itself with new features. With designers and brands ditching the traditional fashion weeks and organizing their own separate events to showcase collections, a platform that concentrates all the content from these spread collections is more needed than ever - and Vogue Runway knows that.
But what changed? So, before, Vogue Runway would only cover the US, while 11 disparate other Vogue sites and verticals would keep track of shows in other parts of the world. With this relaunch, Vogue Runway will centralize this coverage and display all global fashion shows in one single destination. Another new feature is the live streaming, which was already used by Saint Laurent. From now on, most designers featured on the platform will be editor-chosen, with only a twice-a-year opportunity to pay to have collections uploaded, but without a review. These changes are important to keep Vogue Runway's competitiveness against other platforms that offer a similar proposition such as Runway360 and slideshows on websites like Elle.com. Vogue Runway is available as an app and website.
Rating La Mode - Mous Lamrabat
This week I am presenting you the photographer Mous Lamrabat. Lamrabat was born in the north of Morroco, but as a young child moved to Belgium where he grew up. After studying architecture, he taught himself how to use a camera and started to work in fashion photography. His images mix his Morrocan roots, culture, and tradition with the western world he grew up in. The pictures have almost a sarcastic tone demonstrating the beauty of mixing cultures. His Instagram account has many images from his portfolio and is a joy to follow.
New York Fashion Week Review – Must the Show Go On?
When I heard fashion weeks would be physical in September, I thought brands and organizers were being too optimistic about the whole coronavirus situation. I guess I was right…
From 13 to 16 of September, New York Fashion made an attempt of happening. With many of the big names such as Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors opting out of the event, other designers decided to show their spring/summer 2021 collections even during these chaotic times. The live streams, look books and videos were all available at CFDA’s platform Runway360. The overall perception of this season's New York Fashion Week was not the best, but a lot comes from the many limitations that Covid-19 brought, which made holding physical/digital shows a tricky challenge. A challenge that is is not always worth the effort. Due to that, I am doing a review of the main highlights of New York Fashion Week and analysing why this season’s event was so…how can I say…meh.
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The Most Talked-About Show: Christian Siriano
The designer Christian Siriano decided to hold a physical show with guests at his Connecticut home. Regarding the clothes, it was lovely. The joyful gowns matched with beautiful facemasks gave the show some escapism vibe while addressing the current moment in a responsible way. Siriano’s inspiration for the collection came from his binge-watching of ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ during the lockdown.
But what actually went viral from his show was the scene of Coco Rocha, who was modeling a red gown, stepping into the pool. What in the beginning looked like an interesting way to show the gown’s skirt floating, soon got messy with the pregnant model struggling to leave the pool when dresses weighted down with the water (as she explaining with good humor on her Instagram). Even though the scene was kind of a funny mess, it became some good TikTok content and made Siriano’s show the most talked-about of this season’s NY Fashion Week. I guess we needed some silly finale to just bring up the spirits in the middle of this pandemic.
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Tom Ford Made Us Smile
Usually, Tom Ford is the mind behind the curtains of his glamorous runway shows, controlling every detail without exposing his thoughts in a literal way. Not this time. This season, Tom Ford did not put on a runway show, not even a fashion film. Instead, he presented images of his men and women’s spring/summer 2021 collection with a statement about the difficulties he went through behind the scenes.
“I had not left the house in months. I was irritated when I had a Zoom meeting because it meant washing my hair and perhaps trimming my beard … I felt that honestly, fashion should simply go into hibernation for a year,” he said.
But we are happy his fashion work did not go into hibernation. Before releasing the collection, he released three videos on his Instagram profile explaining the difficulties of putting the collection together. But despite the challenges, he wanted to create something that made us smile – and he did. The collection is inspired by the documentary about the fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and the ’70s models Pat Cleveland and Donna Jordan, whom Lopez sketched. The result is beautiful and it can indeed put a smile on our face.
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Jason Wu Tropical Oasis Physical Show
Inspired in Tulum, Jason Wu decided to hold a runway show with guests at the Spring Studio’s open-air rooftop. The show had only 36 guests 2 meters apart from each other and a tropical landscape sponsored by Lowe’s. However, the most special aspect of this show was what was presented, as the designer explained to Fashionista:
"This is the first time I showed Jason Wu, which is my contemporary label — I usually show Jason Wu Collection, which is my more dressed-up luxury label. I wanted to do that for two reasons: One, casual is the keyword of the year, and [two,] I actually wanted to offer some escape."
And he did. The runway was filled with breezy outfits that proved that some fashion joy can bring comfort at this complicated moment of the world. During the show, the designer also revealed his new campaign Distance Yourself From Hate, for which he designed masks in collaboration with Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization. All the profits of this project will go towards providing food and PPE to underprivileged communities around the US.
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Christian Cowan Collaboration With Lil Nas X
Christian Cowan decided to go beyond just presenting a spring/summer 2021 collection. He collaborated with the singer Lil Nas X in a unisex ready-to-wear collection to benefit Atlanta’s black queer youth community with 100% of the collection’s proceeds being donated to the Loveland Foundation.
Even though the mission of this collab is to do charity, the collection was far from serious. Inspired by both the punk and queer movements of the 1970s, the line was full of dramatic escapism. The collection was presented in an over 2 min video staring an inclusive cast with names such as Heidi Klum, Marc Jacobs, Helena Christensen, Teddy Quinlivan, Aweng Chuol, Hanne Gaby, and the two designers themselves, Cowan and Lil Nas.
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Khaite Tried to Innovate With Augmented Reality
If most brands went for a colourful and optimistic look on fashion during Covid-19 times, Khaite did the complete opposite. With a darker and stronger vision of the during-and-post-pandemic closet, the spring 2021 collection of Kathie brought a no-fuss aesthetic. The brand’s founder and creative director Catherine Holstein had as her inspiration the New York she lived during the ’00s, a city that use to bring some sense of danger that has since faded. But she goes on to explain:
“But now, there’s a bit of that industrial feeling again (…) We’re going through one of our collective nightmares as a society (…) I think women are going to want to look strong.”
Khaite presented the collection in a fashion film and look book. On top of that, the brand sent 100 “presentation boxes” to editors and buyers with the collection’s images and fabric swatches. To complete the package, there was also an augmented reality experience that could bring Khaite’s shoes into your living room (which is available for everyone here). The AR tool is kind of fun, not much tho, and the format of the presentation of Khaite’s collection was missing something to be at the same level as its pieces.
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Anna Sui Found Inspiration Outside New York
This season, Anna Sui decided to not host a physical fashion show for the first time since 1991. To put on a show even without the actual runway show, Sui found inspiration in a documentary about the female Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot. Then she connected that to other references and the Heartland collection was born and presented in a video directed by Jeannie Sui Wonders.
However, the beauty of the collection comes actually from the many craftspeople Sui collaborated with to create each magical detail. The mix of the activist graphics made by Stevie Shao, the upcycled sunglasses from Fellow Earthlings, the dying techniques of the Philadelphia-based Riverside Tool & Dye, the recycled fabric tote bags produced by Birdie Purl, and the cans artsy bucket hats made by Gifted Acorn Crafts in Onalaska, Wisconsin, the collection went way beyond New York.
“Sui wondered if maybe these new hubs of inspiration around the country—not just in New York—can be a sustainable and practical way forward,” according to Vogue.
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The Fresh Face - Maiden Wilen
There were a few fresh faces that got the attention during this NYFW. With so many shows going digital, being seen during fashion week became more diplomatic. Aknvas got attention by mixing Scandinavian minimalism with Caribbean beach style and Davidson Petit-Frère with the launch of his womenswear collection. Yet, Maiden Wilen was probably the fresh-face designer that most got people from the industry talking. The former Yeezy designer made magic for her name-sake label by creating tinfoil-like dresses that somehow were fluid.
As a designer that creates colour palettes on Photoshop, Wilen is not new to the go viral culture in fashion and her pieces were already wore by big celebrity names such as Kim Kardashian West. Her spring 2021 collection was based on the effects of consuming clothing via the infinite scroll.
“I wanted to study the effect of viewing images instead of having live interactions with design (…) Exploring how a garment’s design can manipulate or even idealize its image,” Maiden explained.
The interesting concept was crafted in perfection, with her compensating the lack of touching experience by using bold textiles that could be understood without touch. The collection was presented in a look book that played with the mix of real and artificial. Willow creations are all about giving the freedom to be manipulated by the social media machine of creativity, and, once again, she delivered the perfectly imperfect Insta collection.
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Why People Are Not Impressed By NYFW?
Read any review of the fashion week, you will get that no one was really amused by what unfolded during the event. Not because it was bad, not because the clothes were not nice, but because it didn’t feel like the iconic New York Fashion Week at all. Many of the events didn’t even happen in the city of New York, most of the traditional big names you would see during NYFW decided to do not take part this year, and finally, the US is in the middle of health, economical and racial crisis - which kind of makes fashion not be the priority right now.
Many collections were not ready yet due to the closure of suppliers’ factories and ateliers, making it complicated to be present during fashion week. LaQuan Smith, for example, will be releasing his collection in several weeks but decided to host a small outdoor dinner in a rooftop in Manhattan to don’t let the NYFW pass blank. Then you have brands such as Michael Kors, that decided to adopt a whole new fashion schedule from now on and won’t show until October. Marc Jacobs, on the other hand, decided to just don’t have a new collection this season, sitting out of spring 2021. Finally, you have the saddest cases, designers such as Diane von Furstenberg that are in survival mode, too occupied with the restructuring of their companies amid store closures and layoffs to produce a runway show.
But the American fashion industry, one of the most affected by the pandemic so far, needs to survive. For some, this survival depends on the media that comes from fashion week. Each brand and designer then worked how they could during these difficult times to deliver something, and for some, the struggle showed.
However, there many good moments. O mentioned some above, but there was more. There was more visibility given to black creators, such as Kristian Lorén, Kimberly Goldson, and Rich Fresh. Also, collections from Carmelo "Melo" Anthony and the collab between Christian Cowan and Lil Nas X donated to the racial and queer causes. With the US elections not very far, Christian Siriano created looks with ‘vote’ written all over them. So a lot of good things happened, but unfortunately, because the whole NYFW did not make the usual noise, these cool initiatives and collections didn’t too.
Then there was the other aspect that was missing from NYFW, and from all the last fashion weeks too: the street style. There were very few designers that decided to host physical events, and when they did, the guest lists were drastically shorter than usual. As Vanity Fair noted, “the celebrity and influencer aspect has been noticeably absent this season.” When it comes to the social media engagement of fashion weeks, street style and guests at the shows are extremely important. But some still attended, with many outfits showing the creativity of this moment. Some photographers, however, decided to don’t even attend the front of the shows, such as Tyler Joe, who shots street style for Elle and shared a very strong opinion: “I’m glad I’m not part of it right now, I think it’s stupid, irresponsible, and we shouldn’t be doing it.”
Maybe what Tyler Jow thinks is exactly what made this whole fashion week don’t work very well. While the US is the country with more Covid-19 cases, hosting a Fashion Week in New York with shows receiving guests sounds indeed a bit irresponsible. Then you have the brands doing everything digitally, but without the big names to it just didn’t make much noise.
So, was it worth it? Should the show go on? In my humble opinion, definitely yes. Except for the unnecessary physical shows, the fashion industry needs every boost they can find right now, especially in the US where one fashion bankruptcy is being followed by another. Fashion shows are more than important right now, be that to address important causes, to increase designers’ sales or just to offer all of us some escapism from this whole mess of coronavirus.
Thanks for reading this week’s moderated and next Tuesday I will be back with more.
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