Though fashion week returned, in theory, a year ago, the lingering effects of COVID meant that a handful of designers continued to stay away, either because of the quarantine rules in their home countries or because they weren’t psychically ready for The Return. Most restrictions are now gone, and a full in-person season starts Friday with a four-week schedule as jam-packed with IRL shows as it was pre-pandemic — maybe even more jam-packed. In other words, fashion month may have been back, but now it’s back back.
So get ready for your social feeds to once again be clogged with catwalk shots, front row celebrity sightings and street style; the roads (and restaurants and bars) of New York, London, Milan and Paris to be stuffed with members of the traveling fashion circus and their black cars; and propositions for how we will dress next — in this world and the possibly the virtual one — to be flooding in.
What do you need to know to make sense of it all? Read on.
The game of musical cities is in full swing again.
All those pent-up travel urges that overwhelmed airports and sent prices skyrocketing this summer are also being felt by fashion brands. Blame it on boredom or itchy feet or the need to meet their (international) customers where they live, literally, but multiple companies are hopscotching around the circuit. Fendi kicks it all off on Day 1 of New York Fashion Week with its “ode to the Baguette” — a whole show and collection in honor of the 25th anniversary of an original It bag. (Fendi will also have having a spring show in Milan, because if one show is good, two is ... well, what? More opportunity for content!)
Marni follows the next day, bringing its patented creative chaos to Manhattan. Filling Marni’s spot in Milan will be British knit wit Matty Bovan, who is swapping London for Italy thanks to sponsorship from Dolce & Gabbana. Also saying sayonara to London: Victoria Beckham, who is heading to Paris for her first show since February 2020. And because there’s now space in London — and also, a vibe shift — Raf Simons, who has been showing his dual-gender line in Paris, is crossing the Chunnel to Britain. But speaking of Paris ...
The Japanese are back.
After two years of being unable to travel because of quarantine precautions, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe and Kei Ninomiya of Noir are back on the Paris schedule. So is Dries Van Noten, who has held his shows digitally or via a presentation since the pandemic began. And so is Thom Browne, who chose to show in New York for the last year to support his partner, Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Met, and his two-part American fashion extravaganza. Since all five designers are among fashion’s greatest conceptualists, expect visual fireworks to ensue.
In London, Burberry will also be returning to the main schedule, after holding off-piste shows for the last few seasons, bringing its financial and celebrity ballast to the week. And in New York, Tommy Hilfiger is bringing his see now, buy now carnival back home for the first time in three years, complete with a contemporaneous metaverse show.
Still, there are a few names for whom there seems to be no going back, including Ralph Lauren and Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, both of whom will be unveiling their collections after the official circus is over, in California and London respectively. Likewise sitting this one out: Oscar de la Renta, where going direct to customers rather than worrying about production of a catwalk show had become the norm; and Marc Jacobs (though rumor has it that he is collaborating on the Fendi Baguette show).
This means more room for new brands, especially in New York, so stay tuned for potential agents of change to emerge. Designers to watch include Raul Lopez of Luar, Elena Velez, Edvin Thompson of Theophilio, and Everard Best and Téla D’Amore of Who Decides War.
There will be some big debuts.
Three of them in Milan, in fact. Maximilian Davis, the 27-year-old Brit who introduced his namesake label only in 2020, is taking the top job at Ferragamo, tasked with injecting a dose of modern oompf into the storied, and recently staid, Italian brand. Rhuigi Villaseñor, only a few years older, will show his first collection for Bally, bringing the Swiss brand to the catwalk. And fashion high colorist Marco de Vincenzo will become the first nonfamily member to design an Etro collection since the brand was founded in 1968.
And speaking of firsts, the next week, the team at Off-White will unveil its first show since Ib Kamara took on the mantle of art and image director after the death of Virgil Abloh in December 2021 and a March tribute show.
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