The Fashion week NY, which opens this Sunday, September 13 with few big names, practically without an audience and in a half-deserted city, shows that it does not give up and reaches out to US designers in the midst of an unprecedented crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19.
Nobody bother looking for the names of Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren, regular heavyweights of the calendar, because they will not be present at this Fashion week NY, which will last just over three days: from Sunday night to Wednesday, September 16.
Eager to sell part of the merchandise that has accumulated since the beginning of the pandemic and many times affected by a production chain that slowed down in the middle of the health crisis due to the coronavirus, the great designers will present their collections later, outside the usual fashion calendar.
- Marc Jacobs completely gave up his spring-summer 2021 collection.
The only giant in this industry that will attend the appointment at the New York Fashion Week It will be Tom Ford, who will present his virtual collection for the closing of the event, on Wednesday night.
His presence is symbolic of the will of the American Fashion Union (CFDA), of which he is president, to support designers of all kinds (some on the brink).
Historically, high-end American designers have relied heavily on department stores, which were already suffering complications and which have fallen one after another amid the pandemic, from Barneys to Lord & Taylor to Neiman Marcus.
The parades with public almost disappeared from this edition of the New York Fashion WeekWith rare exceptions, including Jason Wu’s opening Sunday night or Rebecca Minkoff’s on Tuesday.
Dreaming of Jason Wu’s return to the runway at #NYFW: The Shows <img alt="" aria-hidden="true" class="i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" role="presentation" src="data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,”/>
Take a look back at his shows from past seasons and sign up to get front-row access to his upcoming runway presentation on September 13 on NYFW.com.
published by NYFW on Friday, September 11, 2020
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The fight, still underway by the United States to control the pandemic, explains the differences with the fashion weeks of Paris, Milan or London, in which public parades were much more frequent.
“Beyond the health risk, I am simply trying to pay as many employees as possible and not have to make new cuts, spending several million dollars on a parade does not make sense.”
Tom Ford, fashion designer.
Very pragmatic, this 59-year-old man who usually wears a black suit, does not believe that there will be a “normal” season before the autumn of 2021.
To help American designers, the union has invested in a new platform, dubbed Runway360, which allows houses to present their collections for free and create a virtual event for their creations.
More than 50, of about 70 designers registered for this New York Fashion Week, used the Runway360, and this week many filmed footage in this American city before putting their video content online on the scheduled day.
Even without face-to-face shows, fashion is a business and New York Fashion Week it is a platform for designers to do business ”. Steven Kolb, CEO of CFDA.
“Many young designers will find an opportunity at this unprecedented moment to gain visibility,” says Geoffrey Owens, an African-American designer who presents his first collection under the Zoonek brand on Sunday, at the Flying Solo show.
Just a year ago, Owens cut hair at his salon in Virginia, dreaming about fashion.
She already had a knack for drawing and learned to sew in just 30 days and was able to “activate this gift”. The doors have been opening ever since, Owens believes.
“The big brands are not presenting themselves as aggressively anymore, so I think I will have a better chance of making myself known.”
Mohamed ElMadawy, of Egyptian origin and who settled in New York in 2012.
ElMadawy will also present his Elmadawy brand collection on Sunday at the Flying Solo show, a Soho boutique that supports and promotes emerging designers.
For Owens, designers also have a role to play in the face of society to help it get out of that dark place in which we have lived for the last six months.
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