Models rush from casting to fitting, celebrities grace the front rows, those not invited rush to social media to see the press release. Or, at least, I think they do? The four major fashion weeks of the year are coming to a close, but did anyone really notice that they happened? For those as crazy about fashion as I am, making it backstage at fashion week is a far-off dream you hope to reach one day, and being invited as a guest is like being given a golden ticket. But does anyone else care? With the rise of fast fashion, and the amount that people are buying second hand, are fashion weeks still serving their purpose?
The first Fashion Week — or Press Week as it was called then — was hosted in New York in 1943. Fashion weeks were a way for designers to show off the most luxury looks and pieces in their collections for their high tier clientele to see and eventually purchase. These looks would create a trickle-down effect, influencing the middle tier, and then high street brands, showing them what was on trend and what they should be selling. However, looking at the nature of clothes-purchasing and the world of overconsumption and social media we now live in, it makes you question whether these fashion weeks are what’s influencing high street brands.
Micro-trend culture and the speed that fast fashion brands can churn new styles out at means that these high street retailers have rotated through 26 micro-seasons before the fashion calendar has completed two. This surely means fashion weeks can’t be influencing the high street? What’s more is that due to the rising price of designer fashion, pieces on the runway that used to be more accessible to the high street, such as bags or shoes, are now so out of a reachable price range, that only the richest of the rich are buying them. So, if they seem to have little influence, and no one is buying from them — what’s the point?
I’d argue it’s all for the entertainment and the WOW factor. Runway shows are moving back to being experiences, rather than being solely about the clothes. And the conversations that happen around them: the rumours, the gossip, the responses — good and bad. Fashion fanatics do still flood to social media to understand the overall responses to the respective weeks, and to find out if Kate Moss was hitting her vape in the front row again. Most importantly — we can’t lose fashion week. The fact that the high streets and the runway are still showing similar looks suggests there is a level of influence, whether it be top down or bottom up. And most importantly, fashion week is crucial for the livelihoods of designers, reporters, models, and more; if we lose fashion week, we lose fashion.
Illustration by Jianglin Jiang @jlin.design for The Students
