September : Fashion Week Looks The Same, But Is it?

We’ve come through the first waves of digital representation for fashion week amidst COVID19 - the rather quick approach was the result of safety precautions taken by the government to “Flatten The Curve” of what seemed to be  an aggressive rise in infections, but more importantly, deaths. 

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Designers across the spectrum of fashion within the industry presented their creative take on Digital shows - amongst those who successfully adapted; Loewe, Balmain, Maison Margiela, Dior Men, Gabriela Hearst, and of course, who could forget Hanifa and their viral 3D show earlier this year. 

The concept or idea of solely presenting collections on the runway, but digitally - honestly had many of us up in arms - the runway, the community, the art, has been rooted in the pride of sitting front row, being bombarded by photographers on the street for your overly thought out but carefully executed fashions, and of course, the day after “Who’s Who” post from bloggers and media outlets,and yet, we survived. 

So now that we are looking at September (which has been shortened to 3 days the 14th -16th according to CFDA ) and continuing with the digital space, it’s to be expected that we will see a small return to physical shows and community while maintaining an emphasis on live streams and virtual shows. 

Production companies, creative directors are all facing a very exciting time in fashion - there are no rules, the old way of doing things, for the moment, is suspended - even the calendar itself has no room in this innovative time. 

From live look books, 3D runways, virtual reality as a means of attendance, and yes even live streams via your favorite social media platforms, the space for Collection Review is open to variety. 

The intricate and anxiety inducing task of producing high caliber shows via the internet can be a game changer for many - the predicting of glitches, the testing of sites, overload back house prep, lighting, graphics, it's all still very complex - kudos to those doing this seamlessly, and a big “ You can do this” from us here at Access to those who are figuring it out along the way. 

Whatever happens next in fashion, one thing is for sure, Fashion will remain the Best Friend we all need.