Here’s what you need to know about the return of New York Fashion Week.
New York Fashion Week (NYFW) started yesterday 8th of September and will run through till 12th of September, 2021. This will be a mix of physical shows and digital events. This is the first time NYFW will be launching since the COVID-19 pandemic forced all in-person fashion events to go virtual. The pandemic affected the last two fashion weeks, in September 2020 and February 2021, as both were dominated by virtual runway shows.
Being one of the biggest fashion weeks in the world, the event attracted the commitment of 11 top designers presenting their collections at NYFW for three seasons, according to IMG, which produces shows for NYFW. Telfar, Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Brandon Maxwell, Altuzarra, Jason Wu, Monse, Prabal Gurung, Sergio Hudson, LaQuan Smith and Markarian have formed a “Fashion Alliance” that will be a cornerstone for NYFW, IMG revealed on Wednesday. In exchange, IMG will help fund the designers’ shows or events. NYFW: The Shows, the event owned by IMG, has also signed new partner Afterpay, the buy-now, pay-later company, that will extend its consumer integrations.
With normal lockdown restrictions loosening, NYFW will be back in a “big” way, says Leslie Russo, president of global fashion events for IMG.
Physical runway shows are powerful in the way they harness the presence of the “right” people — executives, editors, celebrities and influencers — who travel between the world’s fashion capitals, to keep the wheels of a multi-million-dollar industry that brings both investment and tourist spending into New York, London, Milan and Paris whirring. Over the past year, all of that had been erased by the pandemic. The four cities missed out on more than $600 million in economic activity at the most recent Autumn/Winter 2021 season, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Rebuilding begins with a collective commitment to New York Fashion Week,”
“In that regard, we see the success of NYFW as critical… and we hope others follow in our shared path to really fortify a robust fashion economy post-pandemic.”
says Russo
Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), says he sees room for both digital and in-person shows.
But “there is a real optimism and energy and enthusiasm about returning to live shows,” Stephen added.
“There is, of course, nothing you can compare to a live show.”
