Although fashion week theoretically returned a year ago, the lingering effects of Covid meant a handful of designers continued to stay away, either because of quarantine rules in their home countries or because they weren’t mentally ready for The Return. Most restrictions are now gone, and a full in-person season begins September 9 with a four-week schedule just as packed with IRL shows as it was before the pandemic – maybe even more packed. In other words, fashion month might have been back, but now it’s back again.
So prepare to have your social feeds once again clogged with catwalk shots, celebrity front row sightings and street style. the streets (and restaurants and bars) of New York, London, Milan and Paris will be crowded with members of the touring fashion circus and their black cars; and suggestions of how we’re going to dress next – in this world and the possibly virtual one – are pouring in.
What do you need to know to understand all this? Continue reading.
The game of musical cities is in full swing again.
All the pent-up travel that has flooded airports and sent prices skyrocketing this summer is also being felt by fashion brands. Blame it on boredom or itchy feet or the need to meet their (international) clients where they live, literally, but several companies are hopping around the circuit. Fendi kicks off the first day of New York Fashion Week with its “Ode to the Baguette” – an entire show and collection celebrating the 25th anniversary of an original it bag. (Fendi will also have a spring show in Milan, because if one show is good, two are… well, what? More opportunity for content!)
Marni follows the next day, bringing his patented creative mayhem to Manhattan. Marni’s place in Milan will be taken by British knitter Matty Bovan, who will trade London for Italy thanks to Dolce & Gabbana sponsorship. Also says Sayonara to London: Victoria Beckham, who is traveling to Paris for her first show since February 2020. And because there’s room in London now – and also a mood shift – Raf Simons, who has shown his line for two genders in Paris, is crossing the Chunnel into Britain. Speaking of Paris…
The Japanese are back.
Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe and Noir’s Kei Ninomiya are back on the Paris schedule after two years of being unable to travel due to quarantine measures. So does Dries Van Noten, who has been holding his shows digitally or via a presentation since the beginning of the pandemic. And Thom Browne, who chose to exhibit in New York last year to support his partner Andrew Bolton, executive curator of the Met’s Costume Institute, and his two-part American fashion extravaganza. As all five designers are among the greatest conceptualists in the fashion industry, a visual firework display is to be expected.
In London, Burberry is also returning to mainstream programming after the off-piste shows of recent seasons, bringing its financial and celebrity baggage to the week. And in New York, Tommy Hilfiger is bringing home his see now, buy now carnival for the first time in three years, complete with a concurrent Metaverse show.
Still, there are a few names for whom there seems to be no turning back, including Ralph Lauren and Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton, both of whom will unveil their collections after the official circus ends in California and London respectively. So was the omission of this one: Oscar de la Renta, where it had become the norm to go face-to-face with clients instead of bothering to produce a catwalk show; and Marc Jacobs (although there are rumors he’s collaborating on the Fendi Baguette Show).
This means more space for new brands, especially in New York, so stay tuned as potential change agents emerge. Designers to check out include Luar’s Raul Lopez, Elena Velez, Theophilio and Everard Best’s Edvin Thompson, and Who Decides War’s Téla D’Amore.
There will be some big debuts.
Three of them even in Milan. Maximilian Davis, the 26-year-old Brit who only launched his eponymous label in 2020, takes over the top job at Ferragamo and is tasked with bringing a dose of modern pizzazz to the storied and recently serious Italian brand. Rhuigi Villaseñor, who is only a few years his senior, shows his first collection for Bally and puts the Swiss brand on the catwalk. And fashion high colorist Marco de Vincenzo becomes the first non-family member to design an Etro collection since the brand’s inception in 1968.
Speaking of premieres, next week the Off-White team will unveil their first show since Ib Kamara took over as Art and Image Director following the death of Virgil Abloh in December 2021, and a tribute show in March.
And in Trends: NFTs – plus some politics.
Fashion’s love affair with technology has not waned, but it has evolved and most brands are now firmly eyeing the metaverse, cryptocurrency and the potential of NFTs to function not as collectibles but as passwords and tokens of community. That theory is being tested this season, with Jason Wu (who worked with DressX), Prada, Markarian, Rebecca Minkoff and Kim Shui all linking NFT purchases to opportunities for buyers to win seats at their shows.
Or possibly his own seat: New York Mayor Eric Adams, who opens the season with a cocktail party at the Gracie Mansion to better reaffirm his commitment to the fashion industry (and the financial investment it brings to the city).
He won’t be the only political presence at the shows. Last season, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine just as the Milan shows were beginning, and the extreme disconnect between war and wardrobe frivolity was both impossible to ignore and difficult to reconcile. This season, that disconnect could continue, along with more talk of sustainability and carbon-neutral show promises as midterm elections in the United States and focus on Roe v. Wade and women’s rights over their own bodies will also likely hit the runway.
After all, women’s clothing (and it’s still women’s season, despite the continued presence of dual-gender shows) is meant to reflect women’s lives and needs, not to mention armor for everyday living. Orly Color Labs has already teamed up with a women’s rights advocate to create red nail polish You Don’t Control Me. And 1973 merch is trending. The runway is just another operating room. Getting ready.
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