Came, saw, bought: Fashion shows are getting closer to people
Tomorrow in New York fashion week starts, which traditionally opens the month of shows, presentations and afterparty. On the eve of the next fashion marathon, we decided to discuss the latest industry news, which promise to make major changes in the usual system of fashion shows.
Here is one of the most interesting tales of the history of the fashion industry: in 1998, Helmut Lang announced that he intends to organize his forthcoming show spring-summer - 1999 separately from the general schedule of the New York Fashion Week, which was held at that time in November, after Milan , London and Paris. Lang's influence was so strong that his other colleagues, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan, decided to do the same, and from next season all other New York designers followed their example. This story is about how the decision of one person changed the course of the whole "fashion month".
After nearly twenty years, we learn the following news: several players from the fashion world at once - Burberry, Tom Ford and newcomers Vetements - are planning to radically turn the system of fashion-shows itself. The first two will now showcase their women's and men's collections at the same time, and the autumn-winter ones will be in September, and the spring-summer ones will be in February, that is, things can be bought almost immediately.
Vetements came up with an even more intricate scheme: they will show collections in January and June, so that by the beginning of the new season, things were already in stores. Reason? As one of the founders of the Paris brand Demna Gvasalia says, first, buyers spend up to 80% of the procurement budget on pre-fall collections and a cruise, which are shown on these dates. And secondly, such a move should help the team get rid of overproduction, and things - to remain on the shelves of stores longer than usual.
Nobody wants to wait a few months to get the thing they like.
In December 2015, Diana von Fürstenberg, the current president of the American CFDA Design Council, told WWD in an interview: “Some designers and retailers complain about the show schedule. Because of social media, the whole fashion system has changed, customers are puzzled. If we do, that things will go on sale immediately after the show, it will help increase the activity on Twitter and Instragram. "
Talk about what to show collections for six months before they can actually be bought, in the modern rhythm impractical, has been going on for a long time. They say that no one wants to wait several months to get the thing they like - access to it must be instant. In many ways, the formation of such a model was facilitated by street-style stars walking their clothes, which they showed only yesterday on the podium or in the showroom (the whole secret is in friendly relations with the brand).
Jeremy Scott demonstrated the success of the “see now buy bow” model: when he came to Moschino, he suggested immediately after finishing the Milan shows “throwing out” some small accessories like online phone cases and bags. The game paid off the candles in full - such hot cakes scattered in a matter of hours. New York designer Rebecca Minkoff at the next fashion week will show the collection Spring-Summer 2016, and all things can be bought almost immediately. And the Thakoon brand decided to skip this season in order to adapt to the new model here and now next.
The meaning of each of these initiatives is to create a reliable lobby from satisfied customers, satisfying their request for lightning-fast access to things. As Tom Ford commented on his move, for the period from the moment the collection is shown to the purchase, the audience’s impressions will not have time to erase from memory, which means the whole process is accompanied by a completely different emotional experience. In addition, it gives a potential opportunity to sell more - you simply will not have time to think about the purchase, decisions are made impulsively.
In shifting traditional seasonality and maximally reducing the time distance between the catwalk and the store, fashion houses also see a way to prevent copying of their collections from mass market brands. It sounds, frankly, rather naively: yes, cheap imitations will appear on the shelves 2-3 weeks later than the original, but they still appeal to a different customer audience.
If the whole system does change and we will have access to the collections immediately after the designer makes the final bow at the end of the show, it will look quite amusing against the background of complaints about the frantic pace of the modern fashion industry. In essence, this will mean a change in the very idea of fashion weeks - from the formerly event for industry professionals to conditional client days, the purpose of which is simply to sell clothes. True, to do this qualitatively, the usual 15-minute defile is no longer enough. Some time ago, the fashion community was already talking about: do we really need fashion weeks at all? Or you can do with online broadcasting or, say, a modest presentation for buyers and clients?
Fashion finally becomes part of the mass entertainment industry.
The reason why fashion weeks still exist is that they give, besides the actual demonstration of clothes, a feeling of happening. Modern society is gradually moving away from the “consumption for consumption” model formed in the late 1990s - early 2000s. Material values give way to intangible, and people tend to accumulate not things, but emotions.
The younger generation, which has not yet had time to get tired of consumer culture, also requires spectacles: nurtured on social networks, where the main thing is the visual power of the content, they are ready to give their attention only to something truly fascinating. The primary task of fashion brands today is to hook, make you talk about yourself, encourage you to publish photos in real time. Directly clothing is no longer in the foreground. Gadgets in the spirit of an unusual set design or a pop star invited to speak directly on the catwalk - this is such a stub that allows you to shift the focus from the clothes, which in themselves are not particularly interesting in most cases.
These two facts are one of the most significant moments in the fashion industry today. And both talk about one global process - fashion finally becomes part of the mass entertainment industry: TV, reality shows and music videos of pop stars, collecting on YouTube for several million views in a couple of days. And fashion weeks, with their new wondrous device, work as fuel, accelerating this car to gargantuan speeds. Their function is to maintain an appropriate image of the industry, which has also changed.
Remember, two years ago, the organizers of New York Fashion Week wanted to reduce the number of guest bloggers in order to return the status of "only for professionals" to the event? So, the WMG / IMG company, which is now dealing with New York Fashion Week, on the contrary, plans to make the shows more open to the general public - to arrange their broadcast right on the street, launch a free application and organize special “visiting hours”. There is something to think about.
Photo: Ashish, Helmut Lang, Jacquemus