New York Fashion Week is a time when creativity and artistry are expected and appreciated. The fashion shows incite excitement and consume social media during the bi-annual event. As the disconnect grows between the consumer audience and the runway formula, however, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has finally found their solution to revamp NYFW.

While the issues being addressed were broad, systematic problems involving the consumer’s impression of newness, the direct-to-consumer model and the rise of industry fatigue among designers, the CFDA did offer several potential solutions. The main formula suggested that private presentations for buyers and press preceed the collection’s deliveries, which is then followed by in-season exhibitions (runway shows, presentations, videos etc.) and a capsule collection immediately available after said presentation. This would put business before pleasure for the industry members privy to gaining access to the exclusive presentations, but also allow for designers to get creative with new ways to present their collections to the public. Plus, the capsule collection would satiate those who want to shop the current season as it’s happening.

In January, the Boston Consulting Group conducted a study of 50 fashion industry professionals, including designers, executives, editors and industry shareholders to determine the current attitudes towards the current market. While it did not arrive at a definite solution, the CFDA determined that “the time is ripe for change in our market.”

The change has already begun manifesting through the acceptance of the see-now, buy-now platform in the Fall/Winter 2016 runway season. This shift seems beneficial from the consumer standpoint, because in the traditional model it takes four to six months after fashion week for the clothing to reach shoppers. But as high fashion moves in the direction of fast fashion, the creativity and extravagance of fashion week becomes jeopardized. Collections produced with the commercial aspect in mind over the innovative and imaginative aspect divert attention away from the designers and toward the retailers. Part of the significance of NYFW is that it provides a platform for designers to be recognized as artists. If it becomes too commercial, it will lose its artistic hold.

Ultimately, the CFDA decided that it is up to the designers to ascertain what they believe will be the most effective in the upcoming seasons, although it did emphasize that designers should consider changing their methods. And it’s no doubt that designers will embrace this transitioning time, because fashion moves with the behavioral trends of consumers.

The CFDA is offering American designers an opportunity that other international designers aren’t receiving. Considering its reaction to the Fall/Winter 2016 season, the sister fashion week of Paris seems set in its conventional runway setup — no sacrificing of tradition or direct-to-consumer collections. But big names like Tom Ford and Burberry are already experimenting with new fashion week formulas. Major trend-setters and industry influencers like these will pave the way for other designers to change their fashion
week format.

A version of this article appeared in the March 21st print edition. Email Sophie Fay Shaw at [email protected].