Since Burberry announced at the beginning of the year that it will adopt the “see now, buy now” model to hold a press conference, the discussion of its pros and cons has almost become a topic of discussion in the entire fashion industry for more than half a year. Every once in a while, a brand announces that it will join the “see now, buy now” army. In the upcoming 2017 Spring/Summer New York Women's Fashion Week, the practical effect of the see-now-buy-now model will be tested. At the same time, the traditional fashion seasonal characteristics will gradually be weakened. In addition, some brands have announced that they will cancel their shows or switch to static releases, prompting New York's heavyweight brands, led by Marc Jacobs, to adjust their show schedules and even show venues.
New York is a highly commercialized fashion capital, and the preferences of young people are always quickly accepted. In addition, social media and opinion leaders (KOL) play an increasingly important role during fashion week, making everyone a "fashion editor." Similarly, star power in the fashion industry has never been as prevalent as it is now. The names of well-known artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, etc. are one of the important factors that constitute hot-selling items.
From September 7th to September 15th, New York time, more than 100 brands will present their new works during this spring and summer fashion week. Lizzy Bowring, head of the T-stage trend forecasting department of WGSN, a British online fashion forecasting and trend analysis service provider, believes that starting from this season, brands will launch a large number of products without obvious seasonal characteristics to meet consumer demand around the world. This also means that more layered styles will appear on the T-stage. “In the past, brands were showing off styles six months from now. Now, they want to tell you very clearly what you should wear today and what you can buy today.”
For this 2017 New York Spring/Summer Women's Fashion Week, we have listed several events that have attracted much attention - although the future is not clear, changes are really around the corner.
1. See now and buy now army
At 7 pm New York time on September 7, Tom Ford will release the 2016 autumn and winter series. This is the first season of the brand’s products using the see-now-buy-now model. It is reported that the number of media at this conference was extremely strictly controlled, and no photography was allowed on site. Guests could buy new products immediately after the show. Since Tom Ford relaunched its women's clothing product line, it has experienced a 180-degree change in its show mode, from a private salon in the first season, to an open show in London, to a celebrity night in Hollywood's Beverly Hills, and even later released a new series in the form of a music video. Now he has chosen to see now and buy now. Although the brand's marketing method of actively trying different ways to hold shows has triggered enough topics every time, it has left people with a sense of irregularity and confusion..
Tommy Hilfiger will change his show into a shopping scene this time, with 50% of the invitations reserved for insiders and 50% of the quota reserved for real consumers. At the same time, the brand's joint series with Internet celebrity supermodel Gigi Hadid will also be released at the same time.
Fashion agency MADE will also plan a pop-up store project during fashion week. In this space that mixes different display forms such as art, video and music, the independent designer brands it represents will release new series in the form of fashion interpretations and static exhibitions. And the new collection will be sold to the public during the last three days of Fashion Week. In addition, Thakoon and Michael Kors have also officially joined the see-now-buy-now brand team.
Ken Dowing, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, is an absolute believer in the see-now-buy-now model. In the first half of the year, the Fashion Council of America solicited opinions from people in various fields of the fashion industry on the see-now-buy-now model and found that the vast majority of relevant people in the retail and wholesale industries expressed support. Senior buyers from several major department store chains in the United States hope that through this model, on the one hand, they can speed up the time for new products to be released, and on the other hand, they can make the products sold at full price as much as possible before the start of the discount promotion season. Maintain consumers' enthusiasm for shopping while increasing profit margins.
2. Change publishing time
Diane von Furstenberg announced that the fashion show originally scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on the 11th will be rescheduled to the morning of the 10th, and will use a static release to present the first series under the leadership of new design director Jonathan Saunders. sameSimilarly, Ralph Lauren also decided to move the press conference from the 15th to the evening of the 14th. In addition, Calvin Klein used a static display to release its 2017 spring and summer women's collection. Therefore, the most important brand on the official itinerary of the last day of New York Women's Fashion Week was only Marc Jacobs. Marc Jacobs, which usually holds a show at 6 pm on the last day, therefore announced that it would advance the show time to 2 pm and move the show address from the old address, the Park Street Armory, to Hammerstein Hall. This arrangement also gave fashion editors and buyers plenty of time to rush to London.
3. Derek Lam cancels show
Chinese designer Derek Lam announced the cancellation of his 2017 spring and summer women's wear show and will instead hold a static conference at the Greenwich Hotel on the 14th. There are only 24 looks in the new collection, and only a few buyers and media are invited. "In this current situation, there is a lot of noise everywhere, and I am not sure which direction fashion will develop. Maybe this is an opportunity for us to focus on the clothes themselves in a more concise way," Lam revealed. In fact, compared to the lengthy and crowded official schedule, the most realistic problem is the crisis in Derek Lam’s wholesale business, but its e-commerce has become the brand’s most important sales channel. Being able to reallocate the funds for the show and spend them on website operations, Derek Lam believes that this is a very wise and inevitable choice. "The rapid growth of online business can stimulate us to create more assets for the website."
4.CFDA issued new regulations to protect the interests of models of color
The Fashion Council of America (CFDA) issued a "Health Advocacy Letter" before the official start of New York Women's Fashion Week, requiring every modeling agency and brand to use models of color for fittings. The modeling industry has always been plagued by racial issues. Many fashion brands engage in indirect discrimination against non-white models on their runways.
On the eve of his Yeezy Season 4 launch, Kanye West posted on Twitter the content "multiracial women only (only mixed-race women)";'s models are using notices and asking them to stay bare-faced. But one black woman expressed dissatisfaction with the fitting by writing "they want black features not black girls" on her body. She believes Kanye West is sending the wrong message that black people are beautiful only when they are mixed with people of other colors. The incident quickly sparked controversy on Tumblr and Instagram.
5. The emergence of Chinese designers
At this season’s New York Women’s Fashion Week, the proportion of Chinese designers also hit a record high. In addition to the regularly released Vivienne Tam, Vera Wang, Anna Sui, Alaxander Wang, Derek Lam and Jason Wu, emerging designer brands such as Vivenne Hu, Taoray Wang, Lanyu, Vicky Zhang, Comme Tu Es, Calvin Luo will also appear in New York.
6. Further engagement in digital and social media
The Jiemian News Fashion Channel reported last week that Google will launch a new project called "Fashion Week on Google" starting from this season's fashion week. This project will first serve the 2017 Spring and Summer New York Women's Fashion Week. Users only need to enter the brand they want to know about on the Google homepage, and Google will automatically provide graphic and textual information about the brand show, front row guests, show review analysis and other information. And brands participating in See Now Buy Now can also use this project to allow consumers to make purchases after searching. At the same time, the American versions of Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire are also building exclusive platforms to report on the new season’s fashion week more quickly and conveniently. Regarding how to divide the use of Instagram and Snapchat, the American version of VOGUE.com recommends that users use Instagram to record more beautiful pictures, such as details of clothing on models, fashion insiders on the street, or interesting show settings; while Snapchat should record some interesting dynamic pictures., such as dialogue interviews, and the curtain call of the group models at the end of the fashion show, maximizing the use of the functions of different social media.
