I’ve been saying it for as long as I’ve been writing for Fashionising.com: catwalks are broken. As in their current state of ‘show now, sell 6 months later’ they’re simply going against the grain of the modern world, and they do so solely to their detriment. Slowly others are waking up to the argument:
Today, in this confusion where the Internet reigns, we saw your collection not the day after, but three hours after it appeared on the catwalk. Does the desire that fashion creates really last six months until the clothes are in stores? Does it last four months even? There is such a saturation of these things that I wonder if Tom Ford isn’t right not to do runway shows and to show his clothes in the magazines, because that’s what people want and where they remember them.
That quote comes from the lips of Giancarlo Giammetti, co-founder of the Valentino fashion house, and features in a piece on the House of Valentino in Interview Magazine.
I agree largely with his sentiments – the time frame of catwalks doesn’t match the reality of the modern world. Burberry Prorsum are addressing that fact to a degree allowing for key runway pieces to be pre-ordered once the catwalk has closed, but even that is only a baby step in the right direction. Even Tom Ford, ever the influencer, is only part right. He may be able to generate the right buzz because of his name, but most of the industry cannot allow on old, print media alone: print is lifeless, fashion isn’t. Digital media brings clothing to life.
