When fashion weeks went digital last year in response to Covid-19, the industry never really expected it to continue on that way. Everyone probably saw things returning to normal in 2021.
Fast forward to the start of the major shows in January, there was sort of a sombre (sometimes pensive) air hanging over the occasion. Designers sounded almost weary of having to still operate under restrictions.
“We don’t feel it’s right, now, to be too exuberant," said Raf Simons, co-creative director of Prada menswear and womenswear, during a press conference on Zoom held after his Autumn/Winter 2021 presentation.
This is a big change from the optimism witnessed in the industry last year, where everyone spoke about the “better days ahead”.
British designer Jonathan Anderson called his new collection a “reality check”. His Italian peer, Giorgio Armani, said he missed “connecting with other humans” and that lockdown has taught him what true luxury really means.
Read more: No traffic jams and no front rows, as Milan Fashion Week goes fully digital
As it is, fashion was forced to come to terms with huge changes the year before. From being socially responsible for its practices to cutting back on waste, it was far from the usual glitz and glamour.
“We’re still reeling," Virgil Abloh, artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear, told Vogue recently. “We sat through so many heavy conversations in 2020, some so heated that things can’t be discussed anymore”.
You could say that fashion is now resigned to the fact that the past year’s transformation is permanent. We are witnessing even more designers trying out inventive methods to stay ahead of the game.
Without a doubt, fashion weeks are still a spectacle – but in very different ways. Compared to the time before the pandemic, it has found its footing in being experimental. It is safe to say that the industry is now past the denial phase.
Doing digital the right way
Presenting fashion collections without a proper runway and audience is not a straightforward matter. Simply recording models walking back and forth does not work in capturing the attention of viewers.
This is something designers learned from their experience of last year’s digital fashion weeks. The ones who treated their online presentations like a physical show quickly lost their audience.
We are now seeing well-known brands pushing the boundaries of fashion films. Not just in terms of releasing artsy clips though – they are bringing out the “big guns” in ensuring their productions wow and impress.
For example, Dior recruited Matteo Garrone for its Spring 2021 Couture collection. The award-winning Italian filmmaker is known for left-field hits such as Gomorrah and Pinocchio.
The end result was a surreal film worthy of Dior’s magical designs. Garrone’s 14-minute production presented the garments as protagonists in an enchanted fairy tale-esque world.
Read more: Hindsight 2020: The year fashion found its mettle and grew up
In a statement released on Instagram, he said that it stemmed from the idea of portraying the esoteric world of tarots (which inspired the couture collection itself) through fashion and cinema.
“This led to the development of a story, a kind of Alice In Wonderland, about a young girl searching for her identity, ” Garrone explained, pointing to the effective fusion of the two industries.
Chanel snapped up celebrated Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn for its production. He is known for his many photographic portraits of rock icons, as well as music videos for the likes of Depeche Mode and U2.
Each noteworthy attendee of the Spring 2021 Couture show’s filming (numbering just a handful due to France’s strict pandemic guidelines), was captured in a breathtaking portrait series by Corbijn and released online too.
That said, lesser known designers have also managed to nail the digital aspect of fashion weeks. All it takes is the understanding that their presentations need to tell stories. You can’t just focus on the clothes.
For the Autumn/Winter 2021 Men’s Paris Fashion Week, New York-based brand Kidsuper released a short film titled Life In 7 Stories. It walked viewers through seven narratives using humorous characters.
Founder Colm Dillane, who directed, wrote the script, edited and acted in it, said that he didn’t just make a short film. It was as though he made seven – or at least seven intros to seven films.
French designer Julien Fournie did the same for his Spring 2021 Couture presentation. He got really involved and hands-on with the production, taking on the role of a film director himself – plus acting in it.
Fournie spent three days shooting a nine minutes and 30 seconds film in his Paris workshop. Yet, he took it all in stride. For him, it was just another aspect of learning something new in his career.
Read more: Strutting into 2021, what can you expect from fashion trends?
“We designers have to reinvent ourselves endlessly," he pointed out to Reuters in an interview at his Paris workshop last month. “We have to know how to sew, to design, to manage social networks.”
His film features women dressed in goose feather outfits and multi-coloured organza fabric, moving through a fantasy world. It uses just three models, with a cameo from some of his staff.
The fashion week season is still currently underway though, with only the men’s and couture shows having run its course so far. New York just kicked off its fashion week digitally on Sunday (Feb 14)
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the designers, fashion houses and labels fare as the shows move to London, Milan and Paris. With one year’s worth of experience, they should be more informed and better prepared to take on fashion’s digital revolution.
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