Fashion weeks in the big four cities are forging ahead, and brands are making adjustments for Omicron, supply chain glitches and digital. Agility is key
Fashion Month debuts this week in New York in the shadow of the Omicron surge. It will reveal an industry that has been forged by hardship into a more agile version of itself.
Once upon a time, the late cancellation of a fashion week tentpole show would generate industry-wide vapours and juicy gossip about the evident state of the label. There was an era when Marc Jacobs starting his show two hours late caused a scandal. However, when Tom Ford cancelled his Autumn 2022 show in late January, scheduled to close New York Fashion Week, saying his collection could not be completed in time, it fell on changed ears. The fashion industry, no longer so precious, marked its calendars and moved on.
Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
Stretched by pressures such as understaffed factories and ateliers; soaring shipping costs; global confusion about how to share collections safely; and travel restrictions that have upended sales systems, the fashion industry has become remarkably nimble. Long-valued traditions, such as seasonal calendars, are being cast aside so that some collections — like fine wine and Tom Ford — will be sold when they’re good and ready.
Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Aeffe, reveals in an email that his company has halved its guest lists for the Moschino and Alberta Ferretti runway shows in Milan this month, keeping each to fewer than 400 guests. Aeffe will sell collections in-person to European stores, but expects many retailers to buy digitally. “We are anticipating that guests will travel from Europe and North America, but are aware that none will travel from the Far East,” Ferretti says. “Since the Coronavirus outbreak, planning for Plan Bs has become key across all business functions.
”After its Spring 2022 samples didn’t arrive in time for the wholesale market, Tommy Hilfiger turned to 3D design to show a mix of digital 3D images and pictures of physical products — an approach that the label intends to use going forward, according to a spokesperson.
Change will be apparent at the catwalks, which are being planned to avoid the cheek-to-cheek seating that in the past has often allotted a mere 12 inches per derriere. Though his show will be held at the cavernous Terminal 5 on West 56th Street, Michael Kors has slashed his guest list to roughly 140 from the typical pre-Covid count of up to 700, according to the brand. Collina Strada shows usually invite 400 guests, but this year the brand will host a digital show with about 50 guests invited to an in-person screening. “Even with the current lull in Omicron cases, the models will be running from show to show and they wouldn’t test positive in time if they caught it somewhere else,” says founder Hillary Taymour. “Especially if people I’m working with are immuno-compromised, I don’t want to be part of the problem.”
Now that so many people value fresh air more than front row access, Pierre Rougier, founder of the elite PR Consulting agency, says he expects breezier conditions to become a legacy of the pandemic.
“That crush of people, too many people mashed in a room — I think people won’t have tolerance for it anymore,” Rougier says in a phone interview (old school, not Zoom). He sees his clients becoming more amenable to smaller shows now that they have developed more advanced means to livestream and share collections digitally. “I think people have realised that you can achieve as much with less people in the room,” he adds.
Waves of Omicron are causing a ripple effect of cancellations and shifting schedules this season, as the industry otherwise tries to return to regular programming. Most shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris will be physical, though many will be livestreamed. However, there are key players missing: Tom Ford, as well as Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Victoria Beckham and Celine are no-shows. Comme des Garçons will be sharing its collection in Tokyo rather than Paris. Giorgio Armani cancelled his men’s show in Milan. Paco Rabanne won’t be found on the Paris Fashion Week schedule this month because the label showed its collection there in January, off-calendar just before Haute Couture week. “It gave them more time for deliveries,” says Rougier, who represents the brand. Gucci is back on in Milan, after skipping last season to show separately in Los Angeles.
Still, shows and private in-person events are more likely to be well-attended than in the past 18 months, with widespread vaccinations and a sharp drop in recent Covid infections in many cities.
Cameron Silver, founder of vintage retailer Decades, has been travelling among luxury hotspots for the past year, holding pop-up shops in hotel lobbies and living rooms during a period when clients weren’t travelling to his Los Angeles boutique. In January at Boston’s Mandarin Oriental hotel, he juggled three rolling racks of clothes in the lobby. “We had more traffic than the adjacent mall,” he says. “One thing I’ve noticed is people really want to be in person more than ever.
Yet, New York-based designer Joseph Keefer, who is launching a new minimalist menswear label called J Keefer this season, cancelled his Paris showroom for fashion week upon learning that many buyers wouldn’t travel there. He wrestled with the showroom to get back his deposit, but felt it was too risky with changing health regulations. “The dominoes just kept falling and falling,” Keefer says. “A couple of years ago, that kind of flexibility would have been unheard of.”
Keefer has also tempered his expectations for the launch of his Italian-made 16-piece collection, saying he’ll be pleased if he gets orders from one or two stores. “As long as I put it in front of people, I’ll be happy. Having a lot of doors is not a measure of success right now.”
Rejecting traditional measures of success like show schedules and numbers of stores may be another pandemic legacy.
Joseph Altuzarra, who launched his label in New York, later showed in Paris, and returned last fall to show in New York, upstaged his own show to sell his collection this January in advance of the runway — much like Dries Van Noten routinely does. The early sales period helps production and deliveries, but the show, he says, helps define the collection publicly. Altuzarra saw a boost in sales and attention after showing in New York in September, says Shira Sue Carmi, the label’s chief executive.
“The show is the most important way we have to story-tell around the collection, regardless of how many people are there,” Altuzarra says.
The designer says that Covid has given him an unexpected gift.
“I think it’s redefined my definition of success and failure,” Altuzarra says. “I used to be more afraid to do things because if it didn’t work, it would make me vulnerable.”
“There is this kind of facade that exists in the industry that everyone has to put forth this image of success. I think with the pandemic, everyone was challenged and opened up to each other,” he continues. “That was a big part of why I wanted to come back to New York. I really felt a kinship with the community here.
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
#Fashion Month is here: What’s changed since Omicron?
