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Fashion Week--A Thing of the Past?

© Anne Paxton

Prior to the September 11th attacks there was one question on every fashion designer’s mind: Are fashion shows necessary anymore? Fashion Week has always been the prime way for fashion designers to demonstrate—and some would say show off—their latest season lines. Now with our economic downturn the question isn’t so much is Fashion Week necessary, but is it affordable?

According to Reuters writer Ellen Wulfhorst, it seems the designers are no longer interested in entertaining the non-buying critics who attend the show, but want to “head off to the sidewalks in the hopes of appealing to a penny pinching public” ( www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fashion2002 ). That same public who enjoys watching the fashion shows on CNN Style and VH1 Fashion File are too disconnected from the shows to do little more than watch instead of buy. Before the attacks, this was something that some New York designers were trying to change by having their shows outside in large tents in Bryant Park. Kenneth Cole had also planned to have his fashion show outside in a large tent, but went one step further by wanting to have it on the busy Rockefeller Center, so people passing by could watch the show. Fashion designers are also having a hard time getting people to attend the shows. With the recent threat of more terrorist attacks many people don’t want to travel and often the sighs heard by the audience at the end of a viewing aren’t of awe, but relief that they get to go home. It also comes down to the simple fact that people are still reeling from our recent tragedy and fashion is not the first concern on the public’s mind.

However, many designers have refused to be defeated in the wake of our troubled times. Calvin Klein, always the minimalist artist, continued to show his line but in smaller viewings. Oscar de la Renta did something similar by using only eight models to show his thirty-six creations to a crowd of less than 60 people ( www.pagesix.com ). Perhaps Klein, de la Renta, and Kenneth Cole are leading the fashion world down a new path: more intimate season shows, fewer models, and a more open attitude towards public, instead of critical, interest. This is not to say fashion will lose its glamour, but maybe the fashion world is becoming more attuned to our economic situation. This, as with everything, will probably change in time. The public has always needed a place to escape whether it is movies or fashion. But for now, designers may find that moderation is the key to success, or at least the key to the public’s interest.

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