Fashion Week isn’t just happening in New York, Paris, London, or Milan. It’s happening in my dorm room, right on my screen. It’s happening on my phone while I walk back from class or late at night when I am supposed to be sleeping. I’m not front row, but I am front screen, and in my eyes, that is more than enough. I see the small details that go unnoticed in person. The looks of critics right before their next fashion blog post, which we know in fashion, will make or break you as a designer.
There’s this assumption that if you’re not physically at Fashion Week, you’re just a spectator. But I don’t feel like a spectator. I feel like an analyst and fashion insider. Growing up, I watched Project Runway religiously with my mom (I don’t think I have missed a single season). When it comes to runways, it’s safe to say I know what I am looking for. When I watch a show, I’m putting together pieces from the runway in my head as if it’s a puzzle. Every detail feels important. This is when my mental notebook comes into play. What bags are getting the close-ups? Which pieces are resurfacing patterns and styles from old collections?
As someone who spends a lot of time on fashion resale websites, the more information that comes from the runway, the better flip I’ll get. I’ll be at school with my laptop open, rewatching the highlights. The second a bag walks that feels thematically important, I think about the resale of similar vintage pieces by the same designer. Now, to have a good buying and selling strategy, there are a few notes to keep in mind. For example, which pieces will go up in value, and which ones will tank. This is where I feel like I can shine as someone who isn’t in the audience but participating just as much from behind my screen.
I believe that when it comes to the runway, it’s mostly about timing. As Heidi Klum famously says in Project Runway: “In fashion, one day you’re in, and the next, you’re out.” Fashion Week works to create visibility, which in turn creates a major spike in desire for the newest thing on the runway. This completely shifts the market. From my experience, both watching and flipping vintage fashion myself, people start to resell pieces from last season and list more vintage in hopes of saving for the newest version. And for someone like me, who loves fashion but doesn’t operate on luxury budgets, that movement is everything. It’s my only way of getting my hands on some of these pieces. Fashion Week is an automatic tell-all for all luxury resale. This especially clicked for me during the Murakami resurgence.
When Louis Vuitton’s Takashi Murakami pieces started creeping back into conversation, the multicolor monogram mixed with the early 2000s energy aligned with the current nostalgia wave that has taken over the current fashion scene. Y2K was everywhere, especially social media. Suddenly what once felt “too 2008” or even “cringe” started feeling iconic again.
I remember watching that shift happen in real time all over social media. We see Y2K everywhere, from Luxury fashion to our nearest malls. The rainbow colors, the layered tanks, the resurface of Juicy Couture, it’s one of the biggest trends of the year.
Listings for Murakami bags that had been sitting quietly on resale platforms started moving fast. Prices climbed. Influencers who once avoided logo-heavy pieces were suddenly styling them confidently. Trends change, and the new “it” bag shows up on repeat as you scroll through Instagram.
I feel that when something archival gets referenced, remixed, or echoed on the runway, it tells people what’s safe to love and what’s safe to sell again. The resale space doesn’t hesitate to react fast. Now when I watch a show, my brain automatically goes there. My mind goes directly to what bag inspired this one. I want to know if it’s a more current resurface or something from a vintage collection.
Fashion Week used to feel completely untouchable. Exclusive. Gated. Like something happening in a different universe. But with livestreams and instant uploads, I can watch the same Saint Laurent show at the exact same time as someone sitting front row. But unlike the people there, I can zoom in on the details. I can make a quick online reference check for price and collection. There’s something kind of empowering to me about understanding that rhythm.
To me, fashion literacy now includes understanding resale culture. But most importantly, knowing when to wait and recognizing when something is quietly entering archive status. Every piece I choose to buy or flip is inspired by current runway shows and the market shifts that come after. So, while I’m not invited to the actual Fashion Week, that doesn’t mean I’m outside the system either.