How Covid-19 Killed Fashion Week

And what the brands are doing to give a new lease of life to their runway shows.

- Aaron Kok

As we embrace the new norm of social distancing, we have had to cast aside some old habits. But none broke hearts like having fashion week cancelled. Haute couture (July) and menswear shows (June) in Paris and Milan were the first to go, with digital alternatives as temporary replacements. Meanwhile, menswear shows in London would be combined with womenswear and digitised.

Fashion week isn’t just a theatrical production; it’s also an excuse to bring together buyers and editors. As Pascal Morand, executive president of the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, explains: “Empty seats at shows are not the problem. It is what is happening in showrooms, the holdups in the supply chains and what they might mean.” It is in these showrooms where buyers and editors gauge product quality and understand brand values. Such engagement is integral to helping designers sell their products to the wider audience.

While designers like Natacha Ramsay-Levi of Chloe appreciate fashion week presentations as “special events… to inspire and engage conversation”, others have criticised these spectacles as less about artistry and more of showboating. Let’s face it: When was the last time you bought the outfit on someone brisk walking past you in the supermarket or museum?