New York (AFP)
After a long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, New York opens its Spring / Summer 2022 Fashion Week with the return of shows on a catwalk with an on-site audience and featuring big names like Tom Ford and Altuzarra.
However, the restrictions by the covid will deprive this installment of its usual international flavor.
The pandemic eclipsed the last two Fashion Weeks, in September 2020 and February 2021, when virtual catwalks prevailed in both.
Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), says he sees room for digital and face-to-face shows.
If anything, “there is real optimism, energy and enthusiasm for the return of live shows,” he added.
“There is nothing, of course, that can be compared to a live show.”
In New York, whose ‘fashion shows’ precede those in London, Milan and Paris, there is no shortage of iconic catwalks, such as the Tommy Hilfiger show at the Apollo Theater in 2019 or Michael Kors’ Studio 54-inspired event the same year. .
On Thursday night, LaQuan Smith will present his collection at the Empire State Building and the day will culminate with shows by Moschino, Sergio Hudson and Carolina Herrera.
On Tuesday, Collina Strada founder Hillary Taymour will confirm her environmental awareness proposal with the show from a garden on a Brooklyn terrace.
“This is an important time for New York, and we are proud to support the city and the industry,” said Michael Kors.
“We are resilient and optimistic,” added Steven Kolb.
– The covid factor –
This year’s Fashion Week coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s fashion extravaganza, a high point on the city’s social calendar, scheduled for Monday.
This year’s Met Gala has a distinctive youthful footprint. Your hosts will be singer Billie Eilish, actor Timothee Chalamet, poet Amanda Gorman and tennis star Naomi Osaka. None are over 25 years old.
But in a city that has been hit by COVID-19 (and in recent days by a historic flood) the return to normality happens slowly.
The organizers of Fashion Week announced a strict protocol: all guests and participants must be vaccinated, the use of masks is recommended (although not for runway models) and there are limited capacity.
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According to the CFDA, “a large percentage” of the 91 official events will take place outdoors and some continue to rely on digital presentations.
And with travel still prohibited to the United States from many countries, “there will be many of our regular international guests … who will not make it to New York,” Kolb told AFP.
Although he insisted that “he has no concern that the impact will not reach the international audience. It will simply reach them” virtually.
– “Less routine” –
Even before the pandemic, the American fashion world was already facing defections from its pillars of yesteryear such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, who either dispensed with their high-end lines or moved their shows elsewhere. New York has also lost designers like Pyer Moss, Rihanna and Victoria Beckham.
This time, the CFDA has been promoting the return of Thom Browne and Joseph Altuzarra, who had left New York for Paris.
The week gets underway on Tuesday with Christian Siriano and Collina Strada.
Also on the calendar are Liberian-American stylist Telfar Clemens, whose vegan leather handbags have caused a sensation, and Peter Do, the young designer who grew up on a small farm in Vietnam and is now participating in his first Fashion Week.
The week closes on Sunday with shows from big names like Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta and Tom Ford.
Meanwhile, the pandemic, which for now downplays face-to-face shows, has left some designers with mixed feelings.
“I don’t think designers necessarily feel the pressure to present every season, as some of them once believed,” said Cathleen Sheehan, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.
“It is a tremendous relief for many brands, because the shows are incredibly expensive,” he said.
“It is less of an obligation and a routine. There is more freedom.”
© 2021 AFP
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