NYFW: A Repetitive Bore?

[misspepe]

Hi Everyone,

I would love to get your thoughts on this.. Apart from a handful of great collections in NYC this season, I am constantly bothered by the monotony that plagues NYFW each season.

I can only consider five collections as true stand outs this season- Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, Altuzzara, Marc Jacobs and Jason Wu; I would consider less then 10 collections 'good' or 'different.'

NYFW drags on for so long with so many shows.. In other cities there is much more interesting design going on. Is it that we are not getting the best of NYC fashion at NYFW?


I would love to hear people's opinions on this... I also apologise in advance for sounding so cynical!!

[jeremydante]

i felt that it was a complete bore this season too. they continue to churn out the same watered down, played out & uninspired collections. so over it.

[soundbelt]

I loved the proenza show and the J Mendel. I really liked Nanette Lepore as well b/c I appreciate color in fall shows.

Marchesa was the same ol same ol but I still appreciate looking at it. But I never expect much from NY. Really london, either.

[SHLinn]

I just noticed so many collections featuring a kind of minimalist 50's ladylike silhouette. Not that I don't like this vibe, but there was so much of it that it began to feel boring. My favorites were Phillip Lim, Reed Krakoff, and Rad Hourani. While Proenza Schouler was nice, I couldn't help but think that it was too inspired by Nicolas Ghesquiere.

[Mutterlein]

Prabal's Givenchy
Altuzurra's Balenciaga/Gucci
Wang's Celine
Proenza's Balenciaga (though I really liked it anyway)

[IsabelMarantBoy]

I feel like the reason we view NYFW this way is because there are just so many shows, it all starts to blend together and yes, I will agree that NYFW is a bit of a bore. There are other shows in the other cities that are boring, but I think there are more of them in New York which is why we always see it as the "boring city"

[Spike413]

I've become really surprised by how many people continuously insist that New York is somehow the inferior fashion week. I think a large part of it is that the expectations that so many people have of what fashion is supposed to be have gotten so far away from what fashion actually is that we now live in a time when beautiful clothes just aren't enough anymore. I can't say I'm not guilty of occasionally falling into that trap, but to write off a whole week because most of the shows were ultimately unremarkable - yet hardly offensive - seems kind of shortsighted.

From where I'm sitting the designers in London, Milan and Paris can be, and often are, just as unremarkable and boring in what they do as those in New York can be. I mean, just because the show is wrapped up in a big, dramatically styled bow doesn't make it any less predictable. Take McQueen for example. People rave about it, and yeah, it's consistently beautiful under Sarah Burton's direction, but the runway collections are made up of fairly expected clothes that will never even end up being made. Yeah, the first impression is always nice because the drama is ramped up to extreme levels, but in the end it's no riskier than, say, what Ralph Lauren does. They both stick to a formula, it's just that the McQueen formula involves such a level of showmanship that it bamboozles enough people into believing it's actually something new. Gucci is another example. Yeah the clothes always look different on the surface, but can anyone honestly say that the collections are actually inspiring or directional, that they push fashion forward? Ultimately the house is just as reliant on tried-and-true cliches as Michael Kors, Gucci's just better at putting enough unnecessary crap on their clothes to make you forget that they're inspired by the most banal subjects and ideas out there.

I guess I've come to a point, after looking at fashion for so long, where I realize that monotony has absolutely nothing to do with a particular fashion week, or location, or group of designers as a whole, because the beloved and revered European shows can be (and in many cases, are) just as boring as the New York ones. They just put on a better show.

[misspepe]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback- I think it's really important that we're having this discussion, as you don't find the magazines or newspapers really talking about it as they're busy trying to keep their advertisers happy...

Mutterlein- I totally agree with you. The referencing in the 'stand out' collections was to much like their original (modern day, European) designers. But Proenza was amazing..

Soundbelt- I think London is really underrated in the scheme of things. Paris and Milan are special for different reasons, but London is where the new (whether it be good or bad) ideas are.... It's pretty crazy how many British designers are heading up international houses these days...

[misspepe]

Originally Posted by Spike413

I've become really surprised by how many people continuously insist that New York is somehow the inferior fashion week. I think a large part of it is that the expectations that so many people have of what fashion is supposed to be have gotten so far away from what fashion actually is that we now live in a time when beautiful clothes just aren't enough anymore. I can't say I'm not guilty of occasionally falling into that trap, but to write off a whole week because most of the shows were ultimately unremarkable - yet hardly offensive - seems kind of shortsighted.

From where I'm sitting the designers in London, Milan and Paris can be, and often are, just as unremarkable and boring in what they do as those in New York can be. I mean, just because the show is wrapped up in a big, dramatically styled bow doesn't make it any less predictable. Take McQueen for example. People rave about it, and yeah, it's consistently beautiful under Sarah Burton's direction, but the runway collections are made up of fairly expected clothes that will never even end up being made. Yeah, the first impression is always nice because the drama is ramped up to extreme levels, but in the end it's no riskier than, say, what Ralph Lauren does. They both stick to a formula, it's just that the McQueen formula involves such a level of showmanship that it bamboozles enough people into believing it's actually something new. Gucci is another example. Yeah the clothes always look different on the surface, but can anyone honestly say that the collections are actually inspiring or directional, that they push fashion forward? Ultimately the house is just as reliant on tried-and-true cliches as Michael Kors, Gucci's just better at putting enough unnecessary crap on their clothes to make you forget that they're inspired by the most banal subjects and ideas out there.

I guess I've come to a point, after looking at fashion for so long, where I realize that monotony has absolutely nothing to do with a particular fashion week, or location, or group of designers as a whole, because the beloved and revered European shows can be (and in many cases, are) just as boring as the New York ones. They just put on a better show.

Hi Spike,

You've made an interesting point. There have been some good shows in NY this season. But my argument is that NYFW should be edited down. Of course there are bad shows in the other cities, but I think the other cities have been more stringent on who they let show on the official schedule.

On the other end of the scale, I think Paris and Milan are too strict, and need to support younger designers by including them on the official schedule..

[loladonna]

I think making a thread like *** supposes every collection showcased in Paris and Milan is new and changes fashion as we know it.

I've noticed a bandwagon effect on TFS. It's popular to single out NYFW and many people just fall in line. If someone thinks all the collections look the same that tells me they haven't actually looked at all the collections. A lot of people are just into the marquee houses that happen to be in Paris and Milan (Chanel, Gucci, Prada..etc) and want to see theatrics and top models on the runway. If your name isn't Lanvin or Miu Miu they simply aren't interested in what you have to offer. I've actually seen people proclaim NYFW is "boring" because their favorite model wasn't there.

I think Paris and milan are shinier and flashier and to some people that reads "better." I've never been into flash --I just like clothes and I think NYFW does the best at just focusing on the clothes. Milan is where I start to feel bored actually but of course I don't feel the need to make a thread going "Hey everyone, is it just me or does Milan bore you?"

[Psylocke]

^I somewhat agree with you. It's not fair to say NYFW is a bore when there actually is a lot of exciting fashion being shown in NYC that people just don't pay enough attention to (like the shows at Milk Studios, for example). Many of the designers we focus on are either Anna Wintour darlings or traditional American brands like Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Those have established themselves for making classic clothes that are wearable and elegant. Just like Miucca Prada has established herself as being a designer that does something completely different every season. Different things work for different designers and that's ok. I don't expect groundbreaking, quirky collections from Calvin Klein. And just because the minimalism of it isn't my type of thing it doesn't mean it's not good.

I agree that there might be too many shows at NYFW. I always make the effort to look at every single collection I can find online but with NYFW there's such a bulk of collections being shown every day I pretty much just click through them without even focusing on any details or the theme of the collection or whatever. It all kind of gets lost. That's why I like London Fashion Week. It doesn't have a huge schedule but every designer gets about the same amount of attention and media coverage and that makes it much easier to discover new designers there.

NYFW is definitely my least favorite fashion week of all the big ones but that's just because in general it's not my kind of style and I like the darker, edgier stuff we see in Paris and London (and Tokyo, even). But that doesn't mean that all the designers showing at NYFW are boring, you just have to wade through a lot of unexciting stuff to find something you like if in general the American fashion isn't what appeals to you as much.

[Chanelcouture09]

You can't necessarily cite blame with the designers though, NYFW consists of alot of commercial designers that have a certain client base, such as Oscar De La Renta and Ralph Lauren but also there are alot of new, up and comers who are trying to get recognition they deserve, as well as creating something innovative they also need to create something the customer will love as well as the buyers and editors.

London again falls under the same catagory, where having a great imagination is never just enough anymore, as opposed to the early days of McQueen and Galliano who used to put on a spectacle each season, but London is dealt the unlucky hand because it is scheduled between the mammoth NYFW and then Milan, and not only that funding for London based designers is very thin on the ground.

The only way Milan and Paris are considered the more superior is due to their spending power, thats why new designers are finding it difficult to show during Paris fashion week, I mean how can a new designer match the spending power of Chanel ? it's impossible.

I haven't really paid attention to NYFW, and the same when London usually comes around, but that's usually down to a taste factor, nothing else, I don't find it boring, I have a quick browse of course, but nothing really catches my attention.

[Squizree]

New York Fashion Week isn't boring by any means. But I believe that the problem is that there are too many designers doing the same thing, and just too many designers in general. And it kinda dilutes creativity.

I find Donna Karan more exciting than Karl Lagerfeld. She doesn't need a corny setting to convince you that her clothes are fantastic. Karl does.

[misspepe]

Hi everyone,

It's great to hear your opinions...

There are great things going on in New York Fashion, but the event is to long, to much the same, and should be edited. Due to the importance of New York on the world fashion stage, more should be done to reflect this importance.

[thejarc]

Well, I think there is definitely a tendency that NY is generally not as exciting as Paris. Paris has Lanvin, Givenchy, Haider Ackermann, Yohji Yamamoto, Rue du Mail, Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, Junya Watanbe, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Hermes, Celine, Louis Vuitton or Chanel. Although I do not always like what they show it is usually entertaining and there are details and craftsmanship to discover and these designers usually have their own individual thing going on and work stronger with themes whereas NY is often the clean-cuts-american-sportwear-thing which obviously derives from different target groups.

Yes, an Alexander McQueen show might be as pretentious as an Alexander Wang one, but the pretentiousness is a lot more excitingly designed at McQueen, mainly because it does not remind one of other (parisian) designers.

So yes, I often feel that fashion in New York is more towned down and less risk taking than fashion in Paris (but certianly not always).

The spending power might me another point. Of course Parabal Gurung isnt able to have his entire collection embroidered by Lesage like Chanel does (who btw owns Lesage) but there are countless designers in other cities that manage to present fresh collections although their funding is limited (think of Christopher Kane or Roksanda Illicnic).

So in the end it is all down to target groups and a lot of designers in NY (Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim and Proenza Shouler) manage to be HUGELY successful from a commercial perspective whereas other designers try to convince their target groups with less commercial collections which are then more regarded by fashion press.