Out with Autumn/Winter, or Spring/Summer. In with…now?
We live in a world of “I want it now”. The it spans from food, to the latest technology and to clothes. We stream events live on Instagram, Snapchat, and now even Facebook. We pretty much have access-all-areas to all walks of life. And as far as the fashion world is concerned, fast-fashion is now not only for the high street.
You may have heard that on the catwalks of 2016 designers such as the likes of Burberry made their collections available straight from the catwalk. In fact, they have gone as far as to obliterate the traditional fashion calendar, and the tradition of waiting nearly six months to buy your designer clothes.
Designers are doing this to answer to the new way us consumers consume: straight-away, or we forget about it. Burberry’s CEO Christopher Bailey explains that how collections are broadcast today means we cannot expect customers to wait and wait and wait for the pieces they’ve spied and loved.
The fashion and clothing industry is ever evolving, yet we all know of a timeless designer and their classic piece. And if you don’t, you should at least know of Chanel and the LBD. And we all know how their influences have transcended time and make up our perceptions of fashion today. So surely, waiting for something that is going to be endless should be worth it?
As students, we can only really dream of owning pieces from such notorious and luxurious brands so thank goodness for those designers replicating, simplifying and (slightly, although not in some cases) de-embellishing catwalk looks. Runway fashion is and will always remain pretty exclusive, which is why slight imitations are made for our favourite, student-budget friendly high-street chains. But won’t this quick-paced, get-the-clothes-out-there approach have an effect on not just those in the elite fashion circles, but how we all dress too?
It is the time element that strikes me as odd. Taking the customer out of the equation for a second, it must be super stressful, not to mention time-consuming, for dressmakers and tailors alike to make pieces in time for the runway show. Let alone creating pieces to be available straight after said show! They surely need to experiment with different fabrics and textures, different sewing techniques etc. And then, do high-street designers have time to imitate the new styles quickly enough to stay relevant? Production issues already, hm.
Plus, of course this begs the question, what if no one actually likes the clothes on the models strutting down the runway? Each to their own for taste or artistic interpretation but there’s at least one “ew what is that moment?!” at every runway show! And what will they do with those heaps of garments that may or may not be bought?
Could “Ready-to-Wear, Ready-to-Go” be here to stay? It all seems experimental as of yet, and not everyone within the industry has taken to it. February, you better watch your back.
