With the uncertainty that comes with the pandemic, it is hard to say when in-person events can be held again. As a result of these changes, Vogue Magazine held a virtual Couture Week in replacement of the event regularly held in mid-February. Using the hashtag, #voguecouchcouture, Vogue Magazine encouraged celebrities and fans to create their own runway-inspired looks.
“Leave it to you, dear Instagrammers, to make a quiet, entirely-virtual Couture Week feel as exciting as actually being there,” said Vogue in an Instagram post about the virtual event. “In the absence of our usual coverage, we asked you to celebrate couture another way: by recreating your favorite runway looks at home. It would be an understatement to say we were blown away by the entries we received.”
As the post explained, followers were encouraged to reinvent and reimagine popular runway looks from Fashion Weeks of past years.
Of those featured on Vogue’s Instagram, among them were several lesser-known Instagram fashion influencers. There were some even smaller faces, showing how diverse Vogue was when choosing who best completed the challenge. As well as an appearance by Heidi Klum, who recreated a look from Valentino.
One of the entries included a Jean Paul Gautier look from Spring 2020 made, almost entirely, of paper plates. Another entry was by a woman named Claudia Barnard, a New York-based ceramic artist, whose reinvention of Dior impressed Vogue’s judges so much that she won the competition over Heidi Klum, who works as a model.
Some artists chose to take their own spin on the challenge and add their own style to the looks. Noé, a student fashion designer in Tokyo and Scotland, made her own take on a Viktor & Rolf Spring 2019 green dress with the words: “I am my own muse,” printed in pink letters on the front of the piece. Noé’s creation is an example of how important this event is culturally. Vogue’s virtual Couture Challenge is a great way for young artists and designers to showcase their skills on a wider scale.
While the news of a virtual Fashion Week may be disheartening to some, Vogue’s website does have a list of dates for Italy and France’s virtual fashion shows. While the events are not until July, there will be the first virtual fashion shows for the two countries to ever host.
As a result of the pandemic many important figures in fashion, including Anna Wintor, are talking about the ways fashion is changing with the times. Wintor discusses how old-fashioned and dated it has become for people to travel from around to world to attend these shows. This is why many countries are hosting their Fashion Week virtually this year, allowing for not only safety but more opportunities for fans all over the world to participate in Fashion Week.