New York Fashion Week Shelters in Place on Inclusion
We’re now approaching almost a year since the beginning of six-foot socializing and making masks an outfit essential. New York Fashion Week is no exception, having had to adjust its iconic experiential style showcase into a pandemic-approved event. In past years, fashionistas would flood Manhattan to attend the exclusive and fast-paced event, but in typical 2021 fashion, this year’s NYFW came with all the chaos, but shifted the scenery from New York City to the comfort of your couch.
The technological advancements of the time contributed greatly to the success of a substantially virtual fashion week, allowing many designers to debut their collections via screen. The shift from Spring Studios to your stay-at-home statutory looked different for each designer, and the social platforms varied from livestreams, social media streams, zoom presentations and look book debuts, while some designers, such as Rebekka Minkoff and Jason Wu, stuck to a physical exhibit with new and improved COVID policies. Traditionally, the event would last five to seven days, but the new digital format contributed to the decision to elongate and broaden the NYFW schedule from a one-week to a Collection Calendar, allowing designers to present their Fall-Winter 2021 lines later in the season and at a variety of locations.
The evolving nature of NYFW may have missed the mark in terms of inclusivity. During the Spring 2021 season, New York delivered the most diverse show in NYFW history (finally). The show challenged the conventions of the industry, embracing diverse representation while featuring models of all shapes, sizes, gender identities and races. Having heard about the ongoing partnership with The Black In Fashion Council and seen so many necessary improvements in the Spring 2021 line, many of us hoped NYFW would move in the same direction. Unfortunately, though, the Fall-Winter line didn’t push these boundaries further, but rather took us a small step back. While still being considered the second most inclusive show in history, the fashion world needs to see this development continue to move forward.
Inclusivity should never succumb to being considered a “trend.” Fashion has the power to pivot society's perspective and deliver more to Fashion Week viewers than a clothing line, but offer a meaningful statement to society in regard to social change and forging the path towards an inclusive industry and society. As fashion and beauty often coincide with each other, the time to revamp the media’s standards of beauty is long overdue.