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Op-Ed | Rethinking New York Fashion Week

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  • Ahimsa
    Vegan Police
    • Sep 2011
    • 1879

    Op-Ed | Rethinking New York Fashion Week

    by Eugene Rabkin

    "NEW YORK, United States — Things are not looking good for New York Fashion Week. Recently, Thom Browne, Proenza Schouler, Rodarte and Altuzarra all announced their departure for Paris. These are arguably the most creative American designers that New York really cannot afford to lose, because the city’s fashion week already has a reputation for being something of a creative snooze-fest, heavy on sportswear and cocktail dresses, and light on new ideas. Ask almost any European editor about New York Fashion Week and their eyes glaze over. Few of them actually want to come here of their own volition.

    With the exception of Marc Jacobs, there is not much left on the New York Fashion Week calendar that is exciting. To be sure, there are important commercial names on the calendar, like Michael Kors and Tom Ford, who is moving his show to New York this season, but they are not the brands the industry expects to produce fashion with a capital “F.” A couple of former millennial favourites, such as Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott, are also staying put for now, but their fans have largely moved on to the newly hyped brands like Vetements and Off-White.

    Of course, the brightest spot on the New York schedule is Calvin Klein under Raf Simons. But while the designer’s first collection for the brand was praised in public, it left most editors I talked to privately unexcited. His presence was supposed to re-energise New York Fashion Week the way Helmut Lang did in 1997, but the current exodus would suggest otherwise.

    Who is to blame? Well, the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) is surely one culprit. Commenting on the recent departures, Steven Kolb, the CFDA’s president, told American Vogue: “Not one of these brands would be able to show in Paris if it weren’t for New York. They’re all winners of the Fashion Fund or participants, and they were able to get their start because of how democratic and open American fashion is.” The statement was made to mitigate the damage, but it made New York sound like a B-grade breeding ground that prepares fashion talent for departure to one of the real fashion capitals of the world. The CFDA clearly prides itself on supporting young designers, yet I know brands that have been knocking on the CFDA’s door for years to no avail.

    The CFDA is still by and large a reference system that requires a power broker to crack. The revolving door of nominees for its annual Fashion Awards is also a testament to how little creative star power New York really possesses. Perhaps that’s why some downtown brands, like hipster darlings Eckhaus Latta, seem content to stay away from the CFDA altogether."

    Full article on BoF
    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store
  • Ahimsa
    Vegan Police
    • Sep 2011
    • 1879

    #2
    Relevant:
    NYFW might be getting a lot more public
    - from Dazed

    "The latest news is that IMG, the week’s producer, is taking steps to make the whole affair more accessible to the public. Well, kind of. With a new service called “NYFW: The Experience”, shows will now be open to loyal customers and high-end corporate clients, with a full package including VIP access to the shows, a serviced hospitality suite, and in person contact with the designers and models."
    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Originally posted by Ahimsa View Post
      Relevant:
      NYFW might be getting a lot more public
      - from Dazed

      "The latest news is that IMG, the week’s producer, is taking steps to make the whole affair more accessible to the public. Well, kind of. With a new service called “NYFW: The Experience”, shows will now be open to loyal customers and high-end corporate clients, with a full package including VIP access to the shows, a serviced hospitality suite, and in person contact with the designers and models."
      Yep, I predicted this two years ago. They are turning it into an entertainment industry.

      I love how there is zero reaction to this piece here. Truly, no one cares about NYFW.
      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • Ahimsa
        Vegan Police
        • Sep 2011
        • 1879

        #4
        Originally posted by Faust View Post
        Yep, I predicted this two years ago. They are turning it into an entertainment industry.

        I love how there is zero reaction to this piece here. Truly, no one cares about NYFW.
        Combined with that Rihanna is coming back to show in NYFW along with that we get Kanye, this looks like exactly what they're doing. How long until some bottle service at the shows?
        StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

        Comment

        • zamb
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2006
          • 5834

          #5
          they way to solve this problem is not difficult, but there are too many idiots at the decision making table

          they need to respect and support avant garde designers and stop talking about 'commerce"
          there are a lot of really talented and determined designers here woh get very little support partly because we are not willing to Kiss Arse of the powers that be..........
          There is a lot of money being thrown around and a lot of time its wasted on people who should not even be in this industry because they got ZERO talent
          years ago there were organizations like Gen Art who supported independent designers.
          there was also companies like Mao Pr etc who did Mao Space and offered an alternative venue that really talented designers with limited budget could show.

          the price of hosting a show in NY is ridiculously high, and it is a poor return on ones investment for smaller brands.
          Making designers more accessible etc is not going to solve the problem, designers need to SELL, and so getting buyers it come to NY market week and offering the kind of support that would facilitate that is essential

          It bothers me that AMERICAN STORES go to Paris and other places to see collections and place orders for brands but its a complete headache to get them to come to NY. its almost as if very few of them have respect for local talent, and then they complain about import taxes and blah blah.....
          “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
          .................................................. .......................


          Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

          Comment

          • Ahimsa
            Vegan Police
            • Sep 2011
            • 1879

            #6
            Rethinking New York Fashion Week: An Answer to Ed Filipowski
            by Eugene Rabkin

            "Last week the Business of Fashion published my Op-Ed lamenting the exodus of creative labels like Thom Browne and Proenza Schouler, who decided to move their shows from New York to Paris. I pointed out certain shortcomings of New York Fashion Week and New York fashion in general – its blandness, commerciality, bloated schedule, and so on. I also offered potential solutions – not all of them immediate, comprehensive, or easy, but solutions nonetheless. The point was to start a discussion about what could be done.

            I also named some culprits, among them the Council of Fashion Designers of America (the CFDA). Today, the Business of Fashion published another Op-Ed, by Ed Filipowski, the co-chairman of a powerful fashion PR agency, KCD Worldwide, which represents the CFDA. In this incoherent and meandering article, titled “NYFW: Stop the Negativity,” Mr. Filipowski spoke ominously about some unnamed backseat drivers who dare to be critical of the fashion industry. He thought they were bitter. He wondered why “they” don’t do what the largely defanged fashion press always does, close ranks and keep their mouths shut. He referred to the recent scandal involving Lucinda Chambers, the former editor of British Vogue who criticized her former employer in an interview with the Paris-based fashion journal Vestoj after being fired by the incoming editor-in-chief. What this has to do with New York fashion week, I cannot fathom.

            Finally, Mr. Filipowski got to me. He said he read my Op-Ed “with amusement.” I assure Mr. Filipowski and everyone else that amusement was not my goal. New York Fashion Week is moribund and in urgent need of fixing. It has become a lifeless and seemingly endless parade of boring sportswear and cocktail dresses, one in which seemingly anyone who is willing to pay can put on a fashion show. It is an open secret in the fashion industry that out of the major fashion weeks, NYFW is the most unexciting one.

            What was the criticism that Mr. Filipowski aimed at my article, as well as the one by Bridget Fowley, the editor-in-chief of Women’s Wear Daily, who can surely hardly qualify as a backseat driver? That we were too negative. His solution essentially boiled down to this – “Be positive!” A vague, meaningless slogan only a PR person could offer. As an editor of a New York-based independent fashion magazine, I sorely wish I could be positive. This is my city and I want to be proud of the type of fashion, with the capital “F,” that it puts out, but I am not. Time and again, I have to hang my head in shame in front of my European counterparts in Paris, London, and even Milan."

            Full article on SZ-Mag
            StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

            Comment

            • zamb
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2006
              • 5834

              #7
              Worl Boss...........
              “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
              .................................................. .......................


              Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

              Comment

              • mrbeuys
                Senior Member
                • May 2008
                • 2313

                #8
                Boom!
                Well written, again. I was really annoyed by Filipowsky's op-ed, especially as it was entirely defensive and offered no solutions and I am glad you put him in his place. To say he read your op-ed with "amusement" was just too patronising.
                Hi. I like your necklace. - It's actually a rape whistle, but the whistle part fell off.

                Comment

                • zamb
                  Senior Member
                  • Nov 2006
                  • 5834

                  #9
                  his writing was rather tedious and without fluidity..............

                  the problem is if they want to make NYFW better they should actually listen to people who have meaningful suggestions to making it better
                  “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
                  .................................................. .......................


                  Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

                  Comment

                  • Faust
                    kitsch killer
                    • Sep 2006
                    • 37852

                    #10
                    Thank you, gents. Vestoj will be putting the article on their FB feed as well.
                    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                    StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                    Comment

                    • Ahimsa
                      Vegan Police
                      • Sep 2011
                      • 1879

                      #11
                      Filipowski was true to form as co-chairman of KCD PR and CFDA, essentially exclaiming "EVERYTHING IS FINE. KEEP BUYING."
                      StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

                      Comment

                      • negroygris
                        Senior Member
                        • Aug 2013
                        • 270

                        #12
                        Faust Just read the article, I do not think your perspective was negative at all in fact you have a lot of good points. Also, Mr. Filipowski "be positive" slogan is a joke... let's hope this next steps into commercializing the shows for the rich do not waste the essence of the actual shows. Money doesn't buy you taste, just expensive clothes you can't even pronounce neither fit into.
                        We hope that people will begin to see beyond the superficial surface of things and understand that there is far more to a design than just the way it looks on the outside.

                        -GEOFFREY B. SMALL

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