Until recently, fashion weeks around the world felt like some of the most exclusive and prestigious events in celebrity culture. Professional pictures of top actors and artists lining the runway in couture clothes would be released and every little girl would dream that she could be that successful one day.
Today, you scroll through TikTok and, if your algorithm is set up the right way, every single video is another angle of all the different shows that happened throughout the week taken by an influencer you have never heard of. With the advent of TikTok and the rise of influencers, once prestigious events such as fashion week have become familiar occurrences. In combination with the current economic status of this country, random influencers showing off their luxury trips to attend fashion week events is not content many want to consume.
I am all for events becoming accessible and transparent, and I do agree that getting that behind-the-scenes look is intriguing. However, I think for events like fashion shows, once regarded as highly distinguished events that only top artists in their fields got invited to, some secrecy and exclusivity should be maintained. If we know everything that happens at fashion shows, they lose a lot of their intrigue. They become boring and normalized. Not everything is made for general consumption and events like fashion shows have a lot of intrinsic value in their mystery and exclusivity.
Before, when the only people who were invited to these events were the biggest names in pop culture, it did not necessarily feel attainable, at least not easily. If you dreamed of sitting with the big shots along the runway, you knew you were going to have to put in some work to get there. Now, with the oversaturation of influencers at these events, it no longer feels like something you can achieve one day with a lot of hard work, but something that could easily happen to you if you just pick the right day to post a video. I am not trying to say getting famous on TikTok is easy, but it certainly requires less effort than becoming a famous actor or top fashion designer. It almost feels unfair now that some influencers get to go on all expense paid trips to London and Paris and you don’t.
All of this combined with the financial hardships many people are experiencing make all these videos feel like a slap in face. Other people get to prance around in fancy dresses in Paris while you are struggling to buy groceries or pay for college. I am no expert, and I do not speak for everyone, but all these factors leave a bad taste in my mouth regarding fashion week. I used to look forward to seeing the new looks designers produced and celebrities wearing them. Now it is a much harder pill to swallow when lacking its original prestige and mystery.