Fashion is facing an existential crisis

Fashion shows and new collections have been postponed or stopped until further notice due to lockdown. Designers were also affected as they ran out of garments and other materials, they are being left to draw the outlines of a new world.

It is a scene that looks something like Barry Lydon and Eyes Wide Shut movies directed by Stanley Kubrick, with a joyful madness as shown in Jean-Paul Goude’s captures. We can call it in 2020: the fashion odyssey. In April 28 in Amsterdam, while a boat was sailing across the water with a woman in white lace on board, models appear at the windows of l’Hôtel de l’Europe, dressed in couture dresses, wearing masks and waving a white flag.

Ronald Van Der Kemp Scene

Ronald Van Der Kemp

This scene was signed by the designer Ronald van der Kemp, as the sustainable fashion designer had organized it by the end of lockdown in Netherland, without a prior notice. The point is to keep our hopes high while wondering about the future of fashion. "Before everyone goes back to the world they know, that of overproduction, disposable clothes and the hypertrophy of collections, let's reconsider the practices," Ronald van der Kemp insists.

Unprecedented Trauma

After a shocking trauma, questions being raised and big changes that happened as a result to coronavirus pandemic, fashion rolled up its sleeves. What’s going to happen next? Although it’s hard to know, but we know one thing for sure: it’s not going to be the same.

From Ronald van der Kemp to Giorgio Armani, who wrote an open letter to WWD Magazine in April, in which he said that he was ready to end the current system, the fashion industry can agree on one point: Fashion was traumatized and it’s going to be hard for it to overcome the consequences.

Ronald Van Der Kemp couture dresses

Fashion designers had to adapt, manage and react quickly when orders were canceled and factories were closed. They had to imagine their future collections with their teams being separated. Everyone we interviewed during this period said so: they danced on the brink then took some time to think about getting back into the ring, because for the first time in their careers, they had to slow down their life and to question the future of their career. From New York to Paris, via Milan, these designers, who saw their collections walk the runways in Fashion Weeks, will try to think their way out in the upcoming months.

Sales Drop

For the first time in history the fashion industry had to shut down completely; from big chains to luxurious fashion houses, from designers to artisans, from studios to production houses, everything was shut down.

“The crisis was not expected to grow like that and to affect the whole world,” analyzes Serge Carreira, luxury specialist and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris. “The world has never seen such crisis even in both World Wars which happened in the 20th century. Back then, some houses closed, but others remained open and the woolen factories were even running at full speed to dress the army.”

Even if some production houses have turned into face masks manufacturing during lockdown, however, it will take on average 7.5 months for the fashion sector to regain its normal level of activity.

How will the fashion industry find its way out after this unexpected lockdown? The negative impact of the coronavirus on the sales in the fashion sector in France is something interesting to know: -53% sales drop in March and -85.5% in April, including online sales. At the end of March, Bain & Company also predicted a 25-30% drop in sales in the first quarter for the whole luxury sector.

“Even if the economic drop had a bigger impact on the big fashion labels, however, it will be easier for them to manage this mess more than young designers,” suggests Serge Carriera, “because they handle all of their production chains, have their own networks and can therefore adjust their inventory and orders according to the events.”

Credit:Tristan Fewings - Getty Images

Digital runways

The upcoming Fashion Weeks for men collections, which will be held this month, will take place digitally. In Paris, the Haute Couture and Fashion Federation will launch a digital platform for fashion shows, performances, interviews, films, from July 9 to 13. London (from June 12) and Milan (July 14 to 17) will also have platforms showing men's ready-to-wear collections and women's pre-collections digitally.

What about Haute Couture? "It will happen digitally from July 6 to 8,” mentions Pascal Morand, the executive president of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion. It will have the same concept as that of Men's Fashion Week, but with focusing more on Haute Couture detailing. It is a significant premiere and real challenge that we will all have to succeed together."

New upcoming season

Some things remain unknown: which fashion houses will join the digital Fashion Week’s calendar?

Saint Laurent has already made up its mind about its 2020 agenda. Also, Alessandro Michele had announced on Instagram major changes that are going to happen to Gucci, with existing outdated collections and the new adopted rhythm; it will have 2 runways per year only. We also have witnessed independent designers, CEOs and department stores buyers writing open letters or calling on the sector to make a sustainable change and a new seasons’ timeline.

If digital catwalks become more adopted, how we are supposed to create the same ambience that of a physical runway? Always ahead of season, we bet that the fashion sector will be able to answer these interesting questions.