PARIS (AP) \u2014 The pandemic has torn a multibillion-dollar bite out of the fabric of Europe\u2019s fashion industry, stopped runway shows and forced brands to show their designs digitally instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, amid hopes of a return to near-normality by the year\u2019s end, the industry is asking what fashion will look like as it dusts itself off and struggles to its well-heeled feet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Answers vary. Some think the Fashion Week format, in use since the 1940s, will be radically rethought. Others believe Asia will consolidate its huge gains in influence. Many see brands seeking greater sustainability to court a younger clientele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe impact of the pandemic will be unquestionably to increase the importance and influence of Asia on fashion,\u201d said Gildas Minvielle, economist at the Institut Francais de la Mode in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLuxury in Europe has already rebounded but it\u2019s only because it\u2019s globalized, only because of Asian buyers,\u201d Minvielle said. \u201cThey spent on European brands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asian buyers are still considered a largely untapped market, yet their wealth has recently tipped over that of Westerners. China, in particular, was already considered the worldwide engine of growth in the luxury industry before the pandemic. Its quicker containment of the virus will leave it in an even stronger position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the next 50 years money will come from the East as it has been (coming) in the last 50 years from the West,\u201d said Long Nguyen, chief fashion critic of The Impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could see a designer aesthetic that panders more to Chinese tastes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another trend that\u2019s been strengthened during the pandemic is the decision to forgo the frenetic pace of runway calendar shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the virus tore across the globe from East to West, these morphed overnight from a live, in-person, sensory experience to a pre-taped digital display released online. Many predicted devastation for the industry, but houses have proved surprisingly resilient. That\u2019s because the system was already overdue a shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the advent of social media, brands have become much less reliant on traditional advertising outlets such as fashion magazines. Now, they create their own online channels, circumventing the glossies, to get their designs out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEach brand is a media entity unto itself,\u201d Nguyen said, calling the way the industry operates \u201cobsolete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, as buyers themselves move online, houses have necessarily become much less dependent on traditional sales outlets such as department stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some houses have done better than expected with the new digital format. Smaller brands, in particular, have welcomed the break from staging runway shows that can be astronomically expensive \u2014 for relatively little return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paris couture designer Julien Fournie said the virus has led him to question \u201cwhether fashion shows were really necessary\u201d in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The virus saw many brands, including Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta of French luxury giant Kering, tearing up the traditional calendar to show their new collections when it suits them \u2014 both creatively and financially. Saint Laurent started the trend last year, drawing headlines for quitting Paris Fashion Week to \u201ctake control of its pace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The advantage for these brands is to set dates on their own terms, with collections that don\u2019t compete with others for attention at the same time. Yet many nostalgic critics, buyers and consumers argue that nothing can replace the physical runway experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBrands have been deciding more and more when their optimal time to show is… They want to control their business more and that is their right,\u201d Pascal Morand, Paris fashion federation Executive President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut this is not the end to Fashion Week. No matter what people say they are all awaiting a return to the runway and to come back to the physical experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stella McCartney, who unveiled her fall collection off-schedule last month, said that the industry has been seriously questioning the relevance of seasons \u201ceven before COVID,\u201d as climate change has sadly highlighted how absurd it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a moment at the beginning of lockdown \u2014 in the sky there were no airplanes, you could hear birds,\u201d McCartney said. \u201cEveryone was talking about nature reclaiming its rightful place,\u201d she added, expressing frustration with the industry\u2019s lifestyle that requires thousands of kilometers of travel per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCartney said that across the industry now there is a sense that brands must embrace sustainability \u201cin order to survive,\u201d especially to attract the young, more environmentally conscious consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One example of such eco-thinking is in reducing waste in collections. Luxury giants have been criticized in the past for burning unused or unsold luxury goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And McCartney also doesn\u2019t seem to think that this will be the end of the runway show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we will throw away where we are today and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll dismiss where we were yesterday,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took me a while, but I miss the energy at the end of the show, the engagement with my community, I miss seeing clothes in real life and moving, expressions of the models, the sound. That is the art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adamson reported from Leeds, England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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