The latest big name in the fashion industry to move away from the traditional fashion week schedule is Tom Ford, who has just announced that his New York Fashion Week presentation has been cancelled.
Instead of presenting his A/W’16 womenswear collection next week, the designer will push the show back until September and will adopt a ‘see now, buy now’ strategy, with the collection available to buy straight off the runway.
In a statement released this afternoon, the designer explained: ‘In a world that has become increasingly immediate, the current way of showing a collection four months before it is available to customers is an antiquated idea and one that no longer makes sense, We have been living with a fashion calendar and system that is from another era.’
The announcement echoes a statement released by British fashion house Burberry earlier today, when it was revealed that the brand would be swapping its usual calendar of four catwalk shows for twice-yearly February and September shows featuring both womenswear and menswear. Like Ford, Burberry’s Christopher Bailey intends that the collections will be available online and in stores immediately after the presentation.
Discussing the last minute cancellation, Ford added: ‘Our customers today want a collection that is immediately available. Fashion shows and the traditional fashion calendar, as we know them, no longer work in the way that they once did. We spend an enormous amount of money and energy to stage an event that creates excitement too far in advance of when the collection is available to the consumer. Showing the collection as it arrives in stores will remedy this. And allow the excitement that is created by a show or event to drive sales and satisfy our customers increasing desire to have their clothes as they are ready to wear.’
Clearly, it seems that the traditional way of doing things is very last season.
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