Well, isn't this fabulous?! I enjoyed the show: loved that it showed un-matchy-matchy outfits that shouldn't work but do, loved that Miucca can pull off the granny look more elegantly than nobody's business and watched Suzy Menkes' little hair bubble run out of the front row (probably to the next show). I felt like I was there watching from the nose-bleed section.
But (and there's always a but) is it all getting too public? Will the riff raff wreck the Ball? Should everyone be able to see this THIS quickly?
Just last week, NY Mag had an article entitled "Shop the Runway: 20 Fashion Week Looks for $200 or less". It took looks from NY Fashion Week and matched them up with pieces available in stores now. This isn't necessarily new- the fashion crowd have been influenced by the runway as soon as we saw the photos in WWD the next day, but this is now reaching out to those not in the industry- those who's money makes up the business of fashion in the big dollar way- in the derivative market (we all remember the blue sweater scene from Devil Wears Prada).
Back in February, Donna Karan said that we need to return to in-season deliveries as well as stating that we are killing our own industry with making it all too public. Recently, Imran Amed from BoF interviewed Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter and he posed the question regarding the speed of seasons. Her response? We should take a season off and let everyone catch up. (Click to see interview here)
The new buzz surrounds an article in the IHT where Suzy Menkes questions whether shows are needed at all as designers increasingly rely on short movies for showing their collections (and advertising campaigns). Leader of the fashion show-movie genre, Nick Knight says in the article- “Firstly, it is a true artistic expression that the designers can control,” he said. “Secondly they can get so many more people, from 300 to three million. And because — although it hasn’t happened yet — designers will want to sell their clothes.” By this he is referring to instant ordering online that would take place while still watching or shortly after the show has finished.
We know that the internet is going to change the fashion industry- it already has. We can see things faster, more closely, and have more accessibility for purchasing across countries and currencies. But will it be affected by letting the "behind the scenes" parts not be so "behind"?
So this leads me to ask the following:
- are designers letting too many cats out of the bag and will there be no surprises when that season comes around?
- are we already sick of the clothes before they go into the stores? or, on the opposite side of the coin- have the consumers been salivating so long that they rush the stores the moment the collection hits?
- will we still need people to "translate" the runway trends when we can see them, sit on them and work it out ourselves?
What are your thoughts?
PS- all images are from the Prada S'11 show- check it out!
