With the Fall/Winter Fashion week already on its way, African Haute Couture designs are all everyone is talking about. With Nigeria’s own Yegwa Ukpo winning the best curator award at London Fashion week for an exhibition themed “Meta 5″, African fashion is slowly gaining a strong foothold at these fashion shows.
What is Fashion Week
The first thing you should know is what a fashion week really means. A fashion week is usually a week long fashion extravaganza where designers, brands, or ‘houses’ showcase their latest designs. The fashion week is aimed at buyers, the media and the editors of various fashion magazines to show them what the latest trend is. These shows also informs the world, what is ‘in’and what is ‘out’ the coming season. Fashion weeks are held at 4 cities of the world, called the ‘fashion capitals’: New York, London, Milan andParis. Two shows are held every year at these cities, at the beginning of two major season: Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. From January through April designers showcase their autumn and winter collections. Fashion week for spring and summer is held from September through November.
History of Fashion Weeks
The First Fashion week was held at New York in 1945 to divert the attention of the American citizens from French Fashion. Before World War II, American fashion was heavily dependent on the French designers, and the fashion magazine ‘Vogue’, regularly sported French designs. But after the initial fashion weeks at the New York by American designers, fashion journalists who had previously ignored their works began to take notice and thus began the renowned New York Fashion week.
But Fashion Weeks are not limited to the fashion capitals anymore. According to the organisation’s founder and director, Priscilla Chigariro-Gessen, the phenomenally successful Zimbabwe Fashion Week (ZFW) is spreading its wings to international capitals and will this year launch its London edition. Many more African designers are also showcasing their designs at the different fashion weeks.
Why Fashion Week is important to designers
The support and development of local designers and manufacturers forms a crucial part of the major Fashion Weeks. Fashion week is the one place where new and established designers both get to portray their work. The basic agenda of a fashion show is business. A good show at any fashionweek can do wonders for the business of a designer. If his design gets noticed by a fashion editor, then his work will get published in a reputed magazine and eventually it will be featured in a store where buyers will buy his products. Not all designers get to show their designs at all the shows. In the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents, clout and seniority are important for designers to score one of the limited spots and a time slot. The other issue is budget—not every designer can afford an elaborate show at an expensive venue.
Fashion week is also the debut fields for many new designers. Fashion Weeks offer designers with key opportunities, such as the transfer of industry experience and mentorship, as well as the marketing tools to develop sustainable brand equity, constantly focussing on The Business of Fashion. These Fashion shows are also a training ground for different African designers. African fashion possesses a cultural flair that caught the world’s eye in 2013 – with designers such as Mary Katrantzou showcasing an African-inspired Collection at London Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2014, Givenchy’s African-inspired Spring/Summer 2014 Collection at Paris Fashion Week, and Mara Hoffman’s African-inspired collection at New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2014, to name but a few.
Why Fashion week is important to models
Models are to Fashion week what artworks are at an Art Gallery/Exhibition. The designers drape the models in their latest designs to showcase them to the whole world. The models make the garments look good and give the people a view of what they will look like wearing that dress. The makeup that the models wear usually dictates what the makeup trends and colour palettes will be for the upcoming season. The symbiotic nature of fashion and make up fuse during a fashion show event. Models are usually selected for their good facial and bodily features. Designers usually look for models who can walk well on the runway as well as carry the dress off. For the models, fashion week is the only time they get a chance at stardom. They tend to land contracts with big fashion houses like Gucci, Prada, etc. They don’t get paid a fortune there, in fact reports suggest most models are underpaid. But the exposure is immense. These editors and casting directors could eventually help models land lucrative advertising campaigns and important magazine spreads.
African models are also making a headway into the fashion industry. Chances are big that you know African Fashion models like Alek Wek, Ajuma Nasenyana, Oluchi Onweagba or Liya Kebede since they have got a considerable amount of exposure over the last decade. Many new models are appearing and making it big in the fashion industry after getting their first break walking for many renowned fashion houses.
Why Fashion Week is important to apparel industry
The apparel industry is an ever changing industry which is the main target for any fashion show. The Fashion weeks act as a bridge between designers and consumers and retailers like Geleyi can gain various perspectives of different stylish clothes. By watching the designer shows, it is possible to gain knowledge about different types of designs and styles of clothes so that it can be incorporated into their own boutiques. Fashion weeks communicate what the leading trend is and thus affecting the consumer mind-set. Fashion shows facilitate in achieving the attention of potential customers. These shows help to highlight the overall consciousness of the public. If a design, shown by a leading fashion brands in your stock, you gain an edge over other apparel dealers.
Why Fashion Week is important for editors
Editors can make or break a new designer. Man of the editor of the leading fashion magazines are seated in the front rows of any Fashion Week to grab their attention. But now-a-days, with the advent of electronic media and various social media sites, everyone is a critic. The pictures of fashion shows gets uploaded within minutes and the consumers themselves post which ones they liked and which ones they didn’t. Gone are the days when a scathing review from a critic would almost end a designer’s career. Since the main agenda of the designers is to make good business, they rely more on what the public’s opinion. Though the fashion critics and editors have a better experience with fashion and designers still strive to get featured at a prestigious fashion magazine, their influence has waned over the years. Fashion shows aren’t exclusively for editors to tell readers what’s good anymore.
Criticism against Fashion Week
Though Fashion week is provides jobs for many, many say that these shows negatively affect the society. One main concern is that now-a-days, quality and innovation has taken a back seat as major fashion houses aim for maximum profit. Providing the finest merchandise is now a secondary objective. The fashion houses hire new designers to revamp their style and splash their labels on everything: It is the brand that sells, not the product. Keeping this in mind, brands are pricing commodities at an excessive rate and consumers are lapping it up because they want to look fashionable.
Racial diversity is hard to find at any fashion weeks. The women’s blog Jezebel has done a good job of tabulating Fashion Week’s lack of racial diversity over the years. This February, the site reported that “of all the models who walked [in New York Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2014] 78.69 percent of them were white.”
Another big allegation against all fashion shows is the depiction of skinny models. These models form a false illusion among young girls who suffer from diet disorders after trying to follow in on their footsteps. Using underage models in the shows is another major allegation.
Is Fashion Week a little silly?
Fashion is way of expressing oneself and the fashion weeks dictate what is trendy and what is not. In a way it is silly if you think these shows dictate how we express ourselves. The biggest silliness is that the dresses showed at the runway are never actually sold at the stores. The designed shown at fashion weeks are a form of the designer’s artistic expression. They want to show off for the celebrities, socialites and fashion editors seated at the front row to create an impact and impart the theme of the next season. So, if you are expecting to find that Prada outfit you saw on the New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter, you probably won’t find it in any store.
Another form of silliness is the show of status. The shows at a Fashion Week are usually invite-only: meaning you don’t get to ask to be a part of a fashion show, you get asked. Also the seating arrangement in a fashion show is done keeping the status of the people in mind. People sitting in the front row are the most important and hence, some designers pay celebrities like Rihanna and Kanye West to sit in the front row.