Shortly before fears of COVID-19 swept through this spring’s Fashion Week, fashion show production maestro Alexandre de Betak was already reexamining his business model. Famous for his transporting work for the likes of Dior, Rodarte, and Jacquemus, de Betak released a statement declaring that shows must be smaller, more sustainable, and more digital. The pandemic only sped up those mandates. “Due to environmental concerns, my current focus is on testing new digital platforms,” de Betak says.“But by next year, we’ll be pretty happy to have experiences again, albeit more intimate [ones].”
The question of what those reimagined shows will look like is one that has been bedeviling the entire industry—and has accelerated existing conversations about changing the fashion show system. Between the carbon footprint of international travel, elaborate single-use sets, and a calendar many designers feel doesn’t make sense, the status quo could use some improvement. In Milan, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele has announced that he is permanently abandoning the traditional schedule, while in New York, Michael Kors, Tom Ford, and Ralph Lauren have bowed out of showing during the regular NYFW schedule. (Paris Fashion Week is, by and large, going ahead as planned as of press time.) Some of the most innovative ideas are emerging from younger talents who are keen to embrace new technologies and less tied to the idea of a traditional show. Anifa Mvuemba held her recent show for her line, Hanifa, virtually via Instagram Live: The garments appeared in 3-D, moving across the screens of tens of thousands of viewers, as if worn by invisible models. And instead of holding a show in the fall, Pyer Moss’s Kerby Jean-Raymond will screen a documentary, American, Also, at a drive-in theater.