Nobel laureate Albert Einstein once said that creativity is the residue of wasted time. In the world of fashion, the catwalk is certainly the platform where new ideas shine that would otherwise never have come to light. But designers sometimes find it difficult to cut down and sort out and want to live out every idea.
Fashion shows can be boring. For buyers and journalists who watch international shows for four weeks each season, sometimes as many as eight a day, the worst catwalks are those with redundant repetitions of the same clothes and the same ideas. The best collections are those of brands that eschew complicated shows and captivate audiences with innovation and the new.
Curating is neglected
Most luxury brands that are overtly anxious to appeal to the widest possible audience and clientele are guilty of this sin. From Giorgio Armani to Chanel and Dior – the boredom of having to see 80 to 100 looks on the catwalk, often unbearably repetitive, is not a rare phenomenon. Luxury brands have a penchant for (too many) variations on a single theme. A typical example: the one dress that is repeated on the catwalk in an unnecessarily large number of variations – optionally with a skirt, tunic, coat, T-shirt or a detail. Instead of keeping the variations in the showroom for the sales team, each option is shown on the catwalk.
While some (few) designers manage to captivate audiences despite a large number of looks, like Matthieu Blazy at Bottega Veneta last week, other houses tend to just repackage boredom. Despite the large number of looks, he managed to give each outfit a different character, an innovative fabric, a new style.
Here are six reasons why designers should better curate their runway collections to avoid catwalk boredom:
1. Quality instead of quantity
When a collection is pared down to fewer looks, designers can focus on creating exceptional garments with more attention to detail, better fabrics and better workmanship. This allows them to design pieces that stand out and show off their skills, rather than telling the same story across multiple looks that may also be less well crafted.
2. Better presentation
With fewer looks, creatives can present their collections in a more coherent and organized way, allowing audiences to better appreciate the pieces and better understand the vision. This can make the show more memorable and impactful as each piece has more time to unfold.
3. Time and Resources
Creating large collections is time consuming and expensive, especially for smaller brands. By paring down a collection to fewer looks, designers can save time and resources and focus on perfecting their designs.
4. Demand
In today’s fast-paced fashion industry, consumers are looking for unique and exceptional pieces to add to their wardrobe. By focusing on quality over quantity, designers can create pieces that are more likely to sell and stay interesting for longer.
5. Availability
In the boutiques of most luxury brands, the categories of handbags, shoes, accessories and cosmetics are the best-selling items. They also take up most of the retail space. The entire collection shown on the runway rarely, if ever, makes it to the stores and only a few items are chosen by the buyers. Most of the pieces seen on the runway are for image, not for sale.
6. Sustainability
All the clothes that are made for the runway but don’t make it to production and are never available for retail have a carbon footprint. Just like the overproduction of fast fashion, brands that overproduce samples that are discarded after their runway debut also contribute to the fashion industry’s resource issues.
This article was published on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ