Dear BoF Community,
New York Fashion Week has come and gone, and now we are in an unusual interregnum period as London Fashion Week does not start until the evening of Feb. 20. As we await the next of the “Big Four” fashion weeks, a story by Joan Kennedy unpacking why New York felt so subdued this season generated a lot of conversation online.
One chart in particular, underscoring just how much Paris and Milan outpaced New York and London last season, sparked some debate offering some solutions.
Many of you commented on Instagram that despite its poor performance in EMV according to data by Lefty, London has historically played a critical role in driving the creativity of global fashion.
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London stalwart Cozette McCreery (formerly of cult knitwear label Sibling which went into voluntary administration in March 2017) wrote: “LFW numbers are depressing, but not surprising. No wonder everyone — buyers, press, even PR offices — has decamped. Although I’ve seen this cycle enough to know that it is often just that, it’s going to take some effort to bring those buyers and press back. Courting big names, a focus away from the awards and back to catwalk, along with tax free shopping is only the start.”
Art curator and entrepreneur Hikari Yokoyama suggested another solution altogether. “Maybe fewer fashion weeks is the way to go …”
This is something the industry has discussed at length in recent years, particularly during the pandemic when so many of us thought that the industry should slow down. But a post-Covid-19 boom enabled the industry to quickly go back to its old ways. Now, we are having a reality check.
I do think there is value in considering whether London and New York should slim down to just one fashion week a year in September, when the weather is nicer and non-native brands are motivated to do a seasonal activation or pop-up show, as Alaïa did in New York last year. What’s clear is that with the growing consolidation of fashion month energy in Paris and Milan, New York and London have some hard thinking to do about how to make their fashion weeks more impactful and less wasteful — of time, money and energy.
Don’t miss this week’s top stories, including an analysis of Kering’s ‘annus horribilus’ and the surprising outperformance of Moncler and Hermès, in this week’s roundup of the best of BoF.
My Top Picks of the Week:
1. Customers to Brands: Know Thyself. Fashion brands are working harder to clarify their messaging around what they stand for and what makes them different. How will customers respond?
2. Can Kering Bounce Back From Its ‘Annus Horribilis’? The French group said it would close 50 stores to adapt to a slower market after fourth-quarter sales at flagship Gucci plunged 24 percent.
3. Adidas Launches New Premium Line, A-Type. The collection, which will feature high-end reworkings of Adidas’ most iconic items, arrives as the brand’s archive helps to drive its global popularity.
4. Millions of Luxury Products Have Digital IDs. Is Anyone Using Them? Brands are attaching the virtual identifiers to their products to comply with upcoming regulations, and see potential side benefits that could make for a better user experience — if they can get customers to notice.
5. Why Can’t Fashion Eliminate Labour Exploitation From Its Supply Chains? Brands like Patagonia, Nike and Lululemon have been working for years to address the exploitation of migrant workers at key fabric suppliers in Taiwan. Despite some progress, the issue has persisted.
This Weekend of the BoF Podcast
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In an intimate conversation at BoF VOICES 2024, world-renowned stage designer Es Devlin and writer and cultural curator Ekow Eshun discuss the transformative potential of human connection.
Emerging from a desire to confront her own biases, Devlin’s “Congregation” project invited 50 Londoners from immigrant backgrounds to be drawn and displayed inside St. Mary le Strand church in London. Eshun’s new book, “The Strangers,” likewise interrogates racial identity and belonging through the stories of five Black men spanning centuries and continents.
“I’m not the same person at all,” says Devlin, reflecting on her experience. “I’m a bit more raw as a consequence of writing [The Strangers] because … you have to open yourself up to pain and fraughtness,” adds Eshun.
Devlin and Eshun investigate how “otherness” shapes our sense of belonging and argue that true understanding requires a radical willingness to open ourselves to one another — and, in the process, rediscover parts of ourselves.
Wishing you all a great weekend!
Imran Amed, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Business of Fashion