Last month, during the fashion month marathon, New York kicked things off with shows, parties, dinners, and events, bringing with it the unmistakable air of September in the City. New York Fashion Week has indeed changed dramatically over the last 20 years, but it’s not just New York that’s seen major change.
As a whole, fashion month just ain’t what it used to be.
When Labels Override Personal Style
During NYFW early last month, I was mingling my way through a crowded event at a luxury label’s SoHo boutique when I stopped and realized nearly everyone was dressed head to toe in the brand’s wares.
While I had the appropriate bag in hand, the rest of my outfit was put together on my own accord from a closet full of clothes I very much own—a closet that does not include a wide array of designer labels. I shrugged it off, knowing how the influencer and VIP sphere works in 2024.
I was further reminded of the inner, behind-the-scenes workings of fashion while waiting online to grab a drink from the makeshift bar set up in front of a wall of handbags and shoes. “I was so worried,” a girl standing in line behind me moaned to her friend. They only just got back to me with a look today,” she finished off.
I glanced over my shoulder at the petite blonde I didn’t recognize, immediately realizing that she meant the brand’s PR team, as she was dressed head to toe in an off-the-runway look.
She looked cool and obviously chic in head-to-toe designer, yes, but the desperation in her voice made me miss the golden days of fashion. The pre-influencer era, if you will. A time when personal style was still, well, personal.
A Bygone Era
Before influencers, tastemakers, and stars who were famous simply for being famous, fashion shows in all the major cities were full of celebrities, industry insiders, buyers, editors, and select It-girls. It was customary for attendees to wear a piece from the designer to its runway show. Still, typically, this meant traipsing through one’s closet to craft an outfit surrounding that particular piece.
Sure, loans were very much still a thing, but not in the same capacity as they are today. Back then, both the up-and-comers and those who were already there were more concerned with standing out thanks to their personal spin rather than wearing whatever a brand would send them.
It’s not just one label that is guilty of this, either. Nearly every luxury label’s VIP arrivals look like carbon copies of the previous season’s runway. While I appreciate seeing runway looks worn in real life, I miss the days when street style was filled with an array of looks, and you could see one designer piece (be it a bag, shoe, or jacket) worn in many ways.
It’s not just Fashion Week that produces carbon copies, either. Vogue writer Hannah Jackson recently begged designers to stop forcing celebrities to wear full runway looks on the red carpet. Preach.
While a brand’s vision is highly curated and developed by its in-house creative teams and thus greatly protected, fashion is meant to be fun, individual, and, yes, deeply personal. It’s time we remembered that.
I miss creativity too. Why are the “it” people in the clothes head to toe? Gucci and Chloe seem to be the worst. Everyone looks the same, same bags, same shoes. It does the opposite to me. I will not be wearing any of it.
This was a great article. I feel the same way.
I agree with Kaitlin. Great Article! Personal Style to me is way more interesting when mixed in with Trends makes it Fashion!
I sometimes wonder those that are dressed Head to Toe off the runway or get “styled” even know how to dress themselves.
Someone from my sorority went on to a career with Women’s Wear Daily (WWD). It’s been years since we spoke, but I remember her fashion advice about attending designer shows or sponsored events — it was considered gauche to come head to toe in that designer’s products. IOW, if you wore a dress by that designer, your bag, shoes, jewelry etc should be from someone else. If your bag and accessories were by the designer, your outfit should not be from that same label. It was considered trying too hard and an amateur’s faux pas.
Yes, Fashion week has become too predictable. Not hard to see who is dressed up by the brands. I miss the lack of creativity we used to see and be inspired by.