on fashion week’s capital
By Sophia Soo
Considered the “Big Four” fashion capitals, celebrities, influencers, and fashion executives travel across the world to attend runway shows in New York, Paris, London, and Milan. Fashion weeks are typically non-profits or state-subsidized and span seven to nine days. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a clog in this multimillion-dollar industry causing a potential loss of $600 million in investment and tourist spending over the past 2021 season, these global fashion cities hope to resume their fashion weeks in person.
According to former Oscar de la Renta CEO, Jeffry Aronsson, the business behind investing in fashion shows is its ability to get brand awareness, which is beneficial to growth strategies. Therefore, despite the extravagant cost of a runway show, at times amounting to millions of dollars allocated towards a short production, its value outweighs the cost. More specifically, the editorial value in terms of impressions earned on social media reaches the millions. Other than value materializing through social media impressions, the digital and print editorial coverage, as well as word of mouth, that results from putting on a runway show helps to direct attention towards the brand and, most likely, sales. Following a fashion show, reports disclose that brands can achieve anywhere between 50 to 100 media features in one day.
Attached to fashion weeks and its shows is a narrative; Steven Kolb, the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s CEO and president, notes that every city conveys a message.
“Remember, it’s about business, it’s about showing a collection, it’s about editors writing about that collection and buyers buying that collection. And we have to be careful that we’re not becoming filmmakers and telling a narrative where the clothes don’t really become featured or the focus character.”
Smaller fashion weeks, such as Copenhagen Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week, allow smaller brands with less to allocate towards production and marketing to display their collections at a global level, in the sight of international and domestic buyers and press without larger designer names clouding these brands. Smaller fashion weeks differ from the “Big Four” as it does not have the same oversaturation where larger brands with more in their runway show budgets dominate. Moreover, they have the capability to carry the same influence as the main fashion weeks, as Emily Zak, Vogue International’s head of fashion shows, suggests that a clear identity helps the smaller fashion weeks stand out. With that said, there is pressure for these smaller fashion weeks to differentiate themselves from the rest.
Focusing specifically on Tokyo and Shanghai, its significant luxury markets and domestic markets are capable of hosting impactful fashion weeks, which has boosted the momentum of Asian fashion weeks. During the Autumn/Winter 2018 season, New York presented a total of 83 brands, Shanghai incorporated brands from 30 countries in its 100 runway productions, and Tokyo had 50 brands.
From the prestige of the “Big Four” fashion weeks, its traditional British taste, and theatrical presentations coming out of Italian fashion houses to the boundary-pushing reputation of Tokyo’s designers, small and large fashion weeks alike not only impact the economies of their corresponding cities but the fashion industry’s economy, as a whole.
According to former Oscar de la Renta CEO, Jeffry Aronsson, the business behind investing in fashion shows is its ability to get brand awareness, which is beneficial to growth strategies. Therefore, despite the extravagant cost of a runway show, at times amounting to millions of dollars allocated towards a short production, its value outweighs the cost. More specifically, the editorial value in terms of impressions earned on social media reaches the millions. Other than value materializing through social media impressions, the digital and print editorial coverage, as well as word of mouth, that results from putting on a runway show helps to direct attention towards the brand and, most likely, sales. Following a fashion show, reports disclose that brands can achieve anywhere between 50 to 100 media features in one day.
Attached to fashion weeks and its shows is a narrative; Steven Kolb, the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s CEO and president, notes that every city conveys a message.
“Remember, it’s about business, it’s about showing a collection, it’s about editors writing about that collection and buyers buying that collection. And we have to be careful that we’re not becoming filmmakers and telling a narrative where the clothes don’t really become featured or the focus character.”
Smaller fashion weeks, such as Copenhagen Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week, allow smaller brands with less to allocate towards production and marketing to display their collections at a global level, in the sight of international and domestic buyers and press without larger designer names clouding these brands. Smaller fashion weeks differ from the “Big Four” as it does not have the same oversaturation where larger brands with more in their runway show budgets dominate. Moreover, they have the capability to carry the same influence as the main fashion weeks, as Emily Zak, Vogue International’s head of fashion shows, suggests that a clear identity helps the smaller fashion weeks stand out. With that said, there is pressure for these smaller fashion weeks to differentiate themselves from the rest.
Focusing specifically on Tokyo and Shanghai, its significant luxury markets and domestic markets are capable of hosting impactful fashion weeks, which has boosted the momentum of Asian fashion weeks. During the Autumn/Winter 2018 season, New York presented a total of 83 brands, Shanghai incorporated brands from 30 countries in its 100 runway productions, and Tokyo had 50 brands.
From the prestige of the “Big Four” fashion weeks, its traditional British taste, and theatrical presentations coming out of Italian fashion houses to the boundary-pushing reputation of Tokyo’s designers, small and large fashion weeks alike not only impact the economies of their corresponding cities but the fashion industry’s economy, as a whole.