The Fashion Calendar and its new addition

We usually refer to the Fashion Calendar as the saved dates for the ever growing list of international fashion week presentations that include NY, London, Milan & Paris. Also known as The Big Four, these are huge events that set the tone for trends and expectations throughout the year for the rest of the fashion industry, including minor brands and mass market production.

Apart from the major events, there are capital Fashion Weeks: think Athens, Seoul, Berlin, LA, Tokyo and then country Fashion Weeks: like Russia, India and there is even an Arab Fashion Week that unites more than one country. So, to sum it up, the Calendar is a well oiled machine that conquers the year one month at a time. That is why the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) offers a subscription to keep you in the loop. For more than 65 years, Ruth Findley has been a major force in the industry, and she is the face and brain behind the Fashion Calendar. If you don’t want to pay up, there is always available content to sort through and be very alert to designers and brands streaming their runway shows.

**(Scroll to the end of the post for information about the 2017 Fashion Calendar dates)

Usually, information available online is not as rich as could be, but various sites do offer a review of major brands collections and inspiration behind the runway looks. There are also a bunch of pages that focus on bringing you more content of the lesser known fashion weeks. Fashion Week Dates even provides videos of the runways and is very accessible for all types of users.

 

Forever21

The Festival Season

There are always changes in progress. In 2016, the CFDA released a study undertaken with the Boston Consultancy Group, Examining the Future of New York Fashion Week. The topic was: delivery cycles, the “buy now, wear now” merchandise and the in-season relevancy. As we previously mention in the post How do different Bussiness Calendars affect trend forecasting? , the “buy now, wear now” business calendar changed the way fashion is produced, and even though it may seem like it has been present forever, it is all pretty new. The most recent update has been the inclusion of the festival season as an important fashion event with repercussions on the same level as a fashion week presentation. Festivals as a venue of encounter between music and fashion started in 1969 with Woodstock and evolved throughout the years, turning into the monster event that is Coachella. A place were teenagers and celebrities alike join together to show their fashion sense and experience the musical culture in a freeing environment.

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A look that is easily recognizable as a cross between a gypsy, flower girl and chic vagabond… haute hippie, if you will. Feathers, embroidery, roughed-up denim, suede and fringe coalesce as part of a unique attire, personalized by each individual. A sort of sartorialist edit of our closet that embraces the late-summer selling period focusing on backpacks, flares and logo tees. This year, there is a lot of 90’s inspiration, a lot of sports and a mix between street and futuristic looks.

Festivals are the new resort or cruise season, a concept that was originally aimed at older, affluent consumers planning their late-winter escape. The 18-to-21 demographic usually missed by luxury marketers is being well taken cared of by brands more focused on mass market consumerism, from Bloomingdale’s to Forever21, the selection is endless. Most of the consumers aiming to attain festival style see it as a destination. The millennials imagine themselves in a desert, free of boundaries, with no coinage and no limits. It is the new spring break, as important as prom.  The festival edit is here to stay.

The festival scene each year see many influencers: Zoe Kravitz, Emily Ratajkowski, Scott Eastwood, Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevigne and Jaden Smith, among others. Their followers aim to copy their looks and style on their Instagram feeds and share in the experience through fashion.

Sources: The Burning Man, Coachella, Woodstock

**To illustrate what I mean about vast, let me take you through the 2017 Fashion Calendar. January was the month for the Men’s Fashion Week in London, Milan, Paris and New York. Overlapping itself with the Paris Haute Couture week. February was the month of the Big Four, New York opening the season, followed by London, Milan and finally Paris, finishing almost in middle March. April is the Bridal Month for New York, May marks the Resort Collections,  June will again see the Men’s big four and Paris Haute Couture in July. September is Spring Fashion Week (New York, Milan, London & Paris) and November/December are the Pre-Fall Collections months and so the cycle begins anew.