The future of fashion weeks in the digital age

As fashion weeks across the globe have been plastered across the media over the past month, some brands have been absent from this season - but why is that? 

Having a show at the start of each season allows both small and high fashion brands the opportunity to show off their new upcoming collections to buyers, influencers and designers alike. 

However, fashion week schedules are dictated by industry calendars, often requiring brands to adhere to rigid timelines that may not align with their creative vision or business objectives. 

By opting out of fashion week shows, brands gain greater flexibility to release collections on their own terms. 

Also, with the climate crisis and the rising prices of resources weighing on people’s minds many designers are beginning to debate if these routine displays are essential to keep brand’s success rising. 

Designer Tia Adeola described the process as ‘a huge financial undertaking and often a burden for emerging designers and small brands’ when discussing fashion shows’ effectiveness in a Vogue business 2023 article. 

In recent years, high fashion brands like Marc Jacobs have noticeably reduced the frequency of their fashion shows, attributing this shift to the increase of technological alternatives such as VR and a concerted effort to combat overconsumption.  

This trend highlights a wider understanding within the fashion industry of its environmental impact. 

Fashion week shows, renowned for their elaborate sets and extravagant productions, have emerged as significant contributors to environmental damage. 

In response, some brands are reevaluating their involvement in these events as part of a larger commitment to sustainability. 

By scaling back or refraining from fashion week participation altogether, these brands seek to minimize their carbon footprint and advocate for eco-friendly practices. 

Plus, with gen z’s rapid overturing of trends due to social media, designers are unable to keep up with these trends and are instead moving to use technological advances through the successful ‘see now, buy now strategy’. 

This selling technique simply means promoting pieces that consumers can buy currently instead of showing collections that are not for sale until later in the year.  

This selling style is effective with this generation’s access to social media and fast fashion pieces with one click of a button- a cycle which is the main cause of trends dying out vastly quicker than years before where anticipation for a collection was strong enough for it to sustain its profitability. 

One brand that’s cut down on shows in recent years is Jacquems, who hosted their s/s collection three months earlier than the rest of the industry in December 2022. 

By moving the promotion of the collection to an earlier date, it enabled the brand to cut down on shows and for their consumers to be able to buy the products in store quicker- plus not splitting the seasons allows the brand to carry their ideal ‘summer aesthetic’ all year round. 

Another concept which brands have begun to trial in recent years is replacing physical fashion shows with VR interpretations. 

With regular fashion show tickets being extremely hard to buy for most fashion lovers, Vr shows allow potential buyers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the normally exclusive shared creative vision of the designers, without the fashions invisible barrier of social hierarchy preventing tickets and travel costs. 

The idea was trialed by High fashion brands like Louis Vuitton in recent years, who prerecorded their shows amongst covid restrictions; this allowed their collections to still get promoted on schedule with other shows. 

In Soul, there was a trial of using VR headsets for 20 participants who had a passion for fashion to understand if the storytelling a designer aims to present at a normal fashion show can be transcribed the same if you're not visually experiencing it. 

The chosen participants also had no previous experience in VR, allowing a fresh point of view of the experience. 

After receiving feedback from the participants, one of them in the survey (labelled as 4) described the event as feeling ‘exclusively for me’ which is miles apart from regular shows aim for only privileged consumption. 

However, as cutting down on physical fashion shows becomes more popularized in the future, many fear for its long-term effect on industry jobs. 

Yet, these roles like runners for example could be carried over to other alternative events that are in the same nature such as new store openings, the production of lookbooks, video/social media marketing videos and hosting private press appointments. 

Overall, the decision of whether to participate in fashion week shows is not one-size-fits-all. While these events continue to hold significance within the fashion industry, an increasing number of brands are choosing to explore alternative avenues for showcasing their collections. As brands navigate this evolving terrain, one thing remains clear: adaptability and protecting its sustainability are key to staying ahead in an ever-changing industry.