Every year, designers, models and the fashion obsessed gear up for New York Fashion Week, but what does NYFW look like during a pandemic?
The event, which took place September 13–17, consisted of only 60 designers. This is major considering in February, there were 177 designers participating in the NYFW shows. Out of these 60, only a handful were physically present, thus prompting the presentation of the CFDA’s lineup to be completely digital. Participants included ADEAM, Badgley Mischka, C+ plus Series, Tiffany Brown Designs, Chocheng, Marina Moscone, Christian Cowan, Jason Wu, Jonathan Simkhai, Kim Shui, Lavie By CK, Veronica Beard, Libertine, Maxhosa Africa, Bronx and Banco, Monse, Nicole Miller, Oqliq, PH5, Proenza Schouler, Chloe Gosselin, Raisavanessa, Rebecca Minkoff, Tanya Taylor, Victor Glemaud and Vivienne Hu among others.
To complement the designer activations throughout the week, IMG, the owner and producer of NYFW, continued to curate and present culturally-enriching discussions beyond the shows of Fashion Week, transitioning this season’s occurrences to the digital realm. Virtual lectures and Q&A’s featured the inventive catalysts, compelling topics and campaigns, driving fashion forward.
Over quarantine, the fashion industry got creative with how they would continue working in such unprecedented times. Face-time photo shoots became a major trend with models and photographers working over the Apple video platform, proving that no matter what life throws at the world, the creatives will never stop creating. Several fashion magazines included pages filled with photographs taken my models using self-timers or taken by family members since meeting in a studio or on location with world-renowned photographers became out of the question.
IMG declared on the NYFW website that they “have worked closely with New York officials and key event stakeholders to deliver a combination of live and virtual fashion shows, presentations, programming and experiences to advance designers’ businesses during the American industry’s most critical marketing period. All NYFW events will adhere to the latest official health and safety guidelines, as the wellbeing of the fashion community remains paramount.”
To view this season’s runway shows and collections, head over to NYFW.com to see the exclusive designer content, cultural programming through NYFW: BTS, and designer archives not offered in seasons past. Consumers can engage in social activations throughout the year by following @NYFW across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
by Tori Ellis
