Runway designer shows

" The original and core purpose of most fashion shows is exposure to the industry and—for couture—clientele. While there were certainly spectacular or notable moments in collections before they became explosively popular, a designer sending their clothes down the runway was essentially making a sales pitch. Retail buyers make notes on what they might be interested in purchasing based on whether to not they think it will sell. Fashion editors similarly note which items are likely to get positive feedback from the market, and both buyers and editors may also try their best to key in on common themes across different collections in a season to get ideas for a cohesive story/sales presentation. For couture houses, which were displaying often one of a kind handmade pieces, wealthy clients might also be in the audience, ready to indicate after the show which piece(s) they were willing to spend thousands of dollars on.

The Internet and social media has made it much easier for fashion houses to publish their content online, so while the physical audience for a Chanel show remains fairly exclusive, it can be watched and distributed as media ad infinitum. Turning fashion shows into a mass market advertisement for a brand and making them available to anyone with an Internet connection has turned up the volume on the entire idea of a fashion show, as brands now have another arena to compete for a share of attention and—they hope—sales.

So now the modern fashion show can really serve a huge number of different purposes, and considering that NYFW alone is estimated to have an economic impact of $900 million, it’s fertile ground for some creative marketing and retail. Designers will add impact to their shows through:"

Performance

Rick Owens Spring ‘14

Celebrity Cameos

Lady Gaga walking in the Thierry Mugler Fall ’11 show

Headline-making designs

Moschino’s Spring 2015 Barbie-themed collection

Retail Technology

The Burberry Spring 2016 Collection, which broke from fashion week tradition of showing an upcoming season and displayed clothing that was immediately purchasable

And pure spectacle

Rick Owens Spring 2016

The point with a lot of these ideas is to get people talking and build brand awareness, whatever a particular brand’s ideal image may be. Think of it as a performance. You might personally like ballet more than someone breakdancing on a sidewalk, but a performance is a performance, and both dancers want you to watch, despite what you (the viewer) may perceive as a difference in quality.

The core purpose of industry exposure remains, but now that brands have more access to the consumer and more incentive to do so, they really want you to pay attention…and click, and share, and buy.

#exposure
#pay
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#fashionweek
#showing
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#vanityfair