Absolutely loving the Saint Laurent FW26 show as I peeped it through my IG page, it made me think about how different how we consume fashion is. I remember watching collection after collection on YouTube on Fashion Now TV. This was my high school years, and after my stint at FIT, I entered the Fashion Week scene, back when it was at Bryant Park. My schedule would be packed with 25+ shows, and I quite literally would have to edit it down to what worked based on time and location. Rad Hourani would show in a space by Port Authority Bus Terminal, so I’d jump in the cab from Bryant Park as we sauntered over a couple avenues. Then back to Bryant Park. Then maybe a smaller show in a more offsite location. It was the excitement of it all and the ability to explore the world I’d study in school and work for as an intern when I was at Starworks Group (Remember?).
Back then social media wasn’t a thing, and you really wouldn’t have access to the shows if you weren’t press, a buyer, editor, stylist, or what I was at the time, a blogger. Now the access is so wide open because of the internet it’s created I feel a false sense of desire to be in. To be apart. To be included. I feel inclusiveness is so vital and important to the world, but in this industry, purpose should always be paramount. Over the years I’ve seen the rise of the influencer, and as I hung up my blogger hat and grew and developed myself as a stylist and Fashion Editor; it’s interesting how wasteful they’re treated. I remember a viral sensation be invited to the Loewe show one season, and was all the rage, with the next season they’re nowhere to be found. Thats just how the game goes. Reinvention is so key, especially with peoples declining attention spans, and most forms of uniqueness being erased. You even see this with fast food restaurants and their architecture, swapped for a more minimalist, uniform design. You can’t tell the difference between the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut building, but your eyes scan past it, because it all looks the same. You see this with designer branding, taking away the serif’s and unique fonts for a sans-serif logo and identity. Now they all look like Arial; and I’m not talking about The Little Mermaid. The way we consume these shows still has some variety, but is it getting to a point where we’re all catching clips on social media?
Last year i had the amazing opportunity to attend my first Paris Fashion Week and the excitement of the city was so astounding. I was amazed with the shows and experiences and established my love for Baguettes (to which to this day is the only bread I consume and bake, I don’t even buy store bread anymore). It reminded me that the past 15 years of hard work, dedication to the industry, and curiosity rewarded me with an opportunity to break free from the uniform viewpoint of social media and experience it in real life. As the influencer space grows yet becomes more fickle I can only hope we return to internships, apprenticeship’s, and experiences that allow you to gain perspective and escape the soulless, sans serif, uniform viewpoints of social media commentary toward fashion for something that only reality and the live human experience can provide.
– W
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