When I was celebrating NYE with my friends, I did not expect 2020 to turn out the way that it did. 2020 indeed was the curveball no one saw coming. From a global pandemic to an economic depression, one of the most significant changes has been in high fashion. Fashion has never experienced a year like this before, even during times of war and recession. Once a booming area of the market that makes most of its money from offering its customers a luxury shopping experience through its high-quality customer service, luxury fashion has now since been waning in sales due to COVID-19. And because designer stores are selling you on their goods and the shopping experience, many designers don’t offer online purchases (e.g. Chanel, Hermes, etc.) to maintain the exclusivity; these are the stores that have suffered the most financially.
So what is happening to Fashion Week this year? Even though most houses are not showing live shows to an audience, that doesn’t stop the fashion industry. Fashion houses have found innovative ways to use digital media to showcase their designs for this season.
Designer Jean-Raymond announced early May that for September, he is planning on creating a drive-in fashion show and premiere the documentary American, Also, a film dedicated to the designer’s beginnings.
Versace is one of the houses that I believe has creatively used digital media to sell to its consumers. For Spring/Summer 2021, Versace created a Flash Collection, which was broadcasted live from Milan. This collection was created in a music video style to show off the clothing.
Some houses, such as Valentino and Chanel, created lookbooks (available on Vogue and their websites). Other houses such as Burberry and Jacquemus made socially distant runways for the models to walk down, having the entire collection on film for the audience.
Many have decided to hold out on shows till 2021, Off-White by Virgil Abloh is one of them.
High fashion has changed because designers are now offering their shows and collections on easy-purchase platforms such as Amazon. Yes, Amazon has finally ventured into high fashion, partnering Oscar De La Renta and Roland Mouret, with more designers to come.
The future of the runway as we know it is becoming digitalized. What do you think of these changes? If you want to have a discussion, hit me up on IG @s_rena22 :)