Runway Shows on the Decline?

While some of the big luxury fashion houses are still staging huge, expensive fashion shows (like Chanel’s theatrical event in Paris last Spring, among others), many young designers are foregoing the traditional runway show altogether. In today’s WWD, the magazine highlights no less than three designers/brands which are releasing videos instead. It’s a way for designers to present their collections as a part of a greater narrative, and allows them a measure of creativity not possible in a runway show, which can be prohibitively expensive.

For her entrée into New York Fashion Week on Sept. 11, Melissa Coker of L.A.-based label Wren recruited her friend Alia Raza to do a three-channel video installation starring Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Karen Elson and Sarah Sophie Flicker. The trio will be reciting lines from films like Robert Altman’s “3 Women.” Said Coker, “It adds this other dimension. You can see the clothes in a living setting.” Naturally, the three will be wearing looks from spring 2009

Hopefully this trend will continue to see growth. For all the “eco-friendly” tote bags that are given out at Fashion Week, runway shows have an incredibly large carbon footprint. Any designer who is serious about eco consciousness (not to mention thrift) should be thinking about downgrading their collection presentation.

WWD (susbcription req)