“people were illegally selling tickets to shows. There were way too many corporate sponsors. You would look around and say, ‘Who are all these people?’ ”
Fashion Week was in crisis once again.
In 2015, Fashion Week moved out of Lincoln Center, and while it has two official venues, Skylight Clarkson Square in Tribeca and the Gallery at the Dream Downtown, most events are, like the old days, spread throughout the city.
Sports and fashion company IMG now oversees the largest group of shows, while the CFDA organizes the official schedule.
The industry is experimenting with ways to make consumers excited about their clothes. Designers Ralph Lauren and Rebecca Minkoff have embraced the see-now-buy-now model, offering their collections for purchase straight off the runway at
their stores and Web sites. Recently, up-and-comer Misha Nonoo held a show only viewable on Snapchat, while industry stalwarts like Cynthia Rowley amd Norma Kamali have debuted collections through short fashion films.
But few designers — no matter how forward-thinking — are ready to abandon the fashion show, or New York Fashion Week, entirely. While certain big names are jumping ship, others are returning to New York this season after stints in LA or Paris, such as Tom Ford and Rihanna.
The Spanish label Delpozo, whose exquisite demi-couture is on the level of old-school Balenciaga, shows not in Paris, with peers like Alexander McQueen, but in the Big Apple,
while the CFDA has also lured British visionary Vivienne Westwood, who will present a collection this season, and the exciting Dutch upstart Sies Marjan.
And New York’s more open, more democratic system, which has created an overstuffed schedule in the past, also allows younger designers their own small presentations and get their names out there.
“Fashion Week is evolving like everything else,” Mallis said. “The industry needs to do
some soul-searching. But American fashion is clearly up there on the map. New York is a
Milan or London.”
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place where new talent is encouraged and embraced. It deserves to have a week like Paris,