Regular readers know that twice a year, I blog about all the fascinating, beautiful, mesmerizing, strange, puzzling, outrageous, outstanding, unusual, artistic, inspiring sartorial creations coming out of the exquisite imaginations of designers, and down the runway. Regular readers may have also gleaned that I follow fashion the way some people delve into the art world. I think of "fashion" as "costume"--as a way to convey an idea or a concept. I appreciate what some designers do the same way one appreciates what an avant garde sculptor or painter or performance artist does. And in a way, these designers are performance artists. For me, it is not about what is hanging on racks in stores, but what these artists are creating and the ideas and concepts they are working with as an influence on their marvelous creativity. It is moving sculpture. It is theater. Fashion and clothing at this level serve as a kind of visual shorthand. A piece of clothing in the hands of a designer can evoke a place, a region, a country, a specific time or an entire era, a work of art such as a novel or film or painting, a class of people, even a social, financial, or spiritual element... and the combination of such pieces of clothing, as well as their harmony or contrast, can tell a fascinating story.
The usual time frame for the shows is in January and June, but our world has been on pause for many months now while we all figure out how to survive. So the June shows have been moved to on-line presentations.
JUNE-JULY-SEPTEMBER 2020 FASHION SCHEDULE--SPRING-SUMMER '21
The string of shows usually starts with London Fashion Week Men's and they retain their position.
London Fashion Week Men's
June 12 - 14, 2020
https://www.londonfashionweekmens.co.uk/
The next two fashion weeks will not be presented until July.
Paris Fashion Week Homme
July 9 - 13, 2020
https://fhcm.paris/en/
Milano Moda Uomo
July 14 - 17, 2020
https://www.cameramoda.it/en/milano-moda-uomo/
The usual second stop on the fashion itinerary is the trade show Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence but from what I can tell, that has been postponed until September.
Pitti Uomo, Florence
September 2 - 4, 2020
https://www.pittimmagine.com/en/corporate/fairs/uomo.html
We will see how this all works out. It's not like we have a choice if we want to keep people safe and alive. And who knows, on-line presentations, digital lookbooks, and artful videos could prove so successful that a return to presentations and runway shows might not happen!
The fashion world seems to be changing quickly anyhow. Just when it was settled that menswear deserved its own collections and shows, many designers have been folding menswear into their womenswear shows. This is a trend I don't like as it seems to once again cast menswear as something marginal which was the original struggle, I feel. An interest in clothing and style is seen as something feminine to begin with and reducing the visibility and viability of menswear rubs me the wrong way. But what helps ease this change is the emergence of unisex or gender neutral clothing. Another change happening in fashion, and one that is long overdue, is a total re-think of the formula of collections and presentations. The grueling year-long schedule is not only difficult to maintain for anyone who works in the industry, but it also turns out that fashion's dirty little secret is producing too much merchandise, so much so that brands will actually destroy mountains of unsold product rather than sell it off, in order to maintain the "luxury" status of the house. This waste contributes to environmental damage and climate catastrophe. So there seems to be a rebellion brewing among designers. What finally pushed Alessandro Michele, creative director at Gucci, into completely new territory is the global pandemic we are all living through. He says he and Gucci will no longer create and show five collections a year but two, presented at irregular times.
Michele said, "Two appointments a year are more than enough to give time to form a creative thought, and to give more time to this system.
"We understood we went way too far. Our reckless actions have burned the house we live in... We usurped nature, we dominated and wounded it.
Now that the devastation caught us unprepared, we have to think about what we would not want to be the same as it was.
Our history is littered with crises that taught us nothing. With economic collapses and social devastations that were tackled by imposing the same recipes from which they originated.
This present, then, entrusts us with important responsibilities... this crisis has somehow amplified such transformative urgency, which can't be deferred anymore.
"I will abandon the worn-out ritual of seasonalities."
Fascinating transformations.
Stay tuned.
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