Digital Fashion Week In Review: Did The Industry Pass or Fail?

Prada Spring/Summer 2021, via British Vogue

Turning the page of the chaotic book of 2020 back to February, Armani was amongst the first brands to offer a bold response to a Covid-19 pandemic hit holding a show in an empty theater. Just a couple of months ago, the  Covid-19 outbreak signaled the end of life as we knew it. Today, however, it’s a new reality for directors of luxurious brands, and the fashion industry. As Gucci wraps up the experimental Digital Fashion Week (watch here), and Prada captures its new collections in films, we are looking at a new version of fashion week. A version that has been adapted to life under a pandemic; searching for new ways to thrive and even borrowing ideas from the past.

SUNNEI Spring/Summer 2021, via The Business of Fashion

The Creative Response: Is It Enough?

While the creative directors of several fashion brands are doing their best to find ways to innovatively transition their shows into a digital format, not everyone is completely satisfied by this compromise. Let’s take a look, for example, at the SUNNEI Spring/Summer 2021 Collection (watch here). On July 15th the masterminds behind SUNNEI, Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, introduced the SUNNEI Canvas to the world. A VR platform that allowed them to show their newest collection to their audience through virtual characters, without physical intervention of any kind. And even though the digital exhibition was a success, it also demonstrated how the job of models can be quite redundant and easily replaceable, placing them in a difficult situation of uncertainty.

“Can we go back to the real shows now?” – is the feedback we get from one of the models on Prada’s show (watch here), which “never happened”. While the new format can be a getaway for the photographers and artists to unleash their creativity in unexpected ways, there will inevitably be parties in the fashion world, which will go through a hard time in opting for the camera lenses instead of the public’s applause. On one hand, nothing is off-limits anymore. Designers can potentially be less worried about something going wrong on the show itself, and fully throw themselves into the creative process. Whilst everything was previously overdone on stage, there is now a whole new digital playground for creative masterminds to devise, discover, and invent. This will not, however, come without repercussions. The glory of one party can be the misery of another;  let it be for fashion models or those who found particular pleasure in experiencing couture offline. As for all of us who wait with a sweet tremble for the world to go back to normal, a new ‘normal’ for the world of fashion should be defined. 

Loewe’s “Show-in-a-box”, via Paper Magazine

The Newfound Intimacy: How Loewe Revived The Concept of ‘Fashion You Can Touch’ With Its ‘Show-in-a-Box’ Tailored Surprise; Not Without Modifications

As many were preparing to say goodbye to any ‘offline’ fashion content this year, Loewe delivered to us its prolific take on how fashion shows can embrace a material form under the pandemic realities. Carefully assembled, a 10-pound box offers a physical journey on inspirations, silhouettes, and even the sounds of the Loewe’s Spanish factory (watch here). In the end, lucky receivers of the dossier, amongst whom are members of friends and family, get a symbolic ‘invitation’ to the show which will be taking the form of a 24-hour live stream. Not only does this bring hope of the Fashion Industry not going completely digital, but it actively requires people to be ‘off-line’ to fully experience its contents.

While not everyone had received Loewe’s miracle box, a 24-hour live stream was available on its Instagram and website for everyone to admire. Even for those who were never even remotely interested in Loewe and other luxurious brands. Similarly, anyone can open one of Prada’s films about their new collection, and Gucci’s 12-hour live stream. Either the last model of smartphone tech, or a floundering old laptop, the same show runs for everyone. This inevitably raises questions on high fashion’s previous accessibility, and potentially restarts a dialogue on how the current trend can prevail, even after the lockdown is lifted. 

Prada Spring/Summer 2021, via British Vogue

Voicing The Important: How What We Wear Becomes a Reflection of What We Stand For

Looking back at the events of the past months, quarantine became rather a constant background noise. A silent yet unnerving noise, to the raving protests and to the struggle of achieving a more equal and inclusive society. The Spring 2021 Read-to-Wear collections of many high-fashion brands had rather become a representation of more abstract ideas behind them, than a rearrangement of expensive material. Consequently, what we can further observe with the advancement of digital fashion, is that designer clothing could step away from serving a primarily aesthetic purpose and become a message of self-expression— another moving force of political principles, even more than before.