Two years of Covid-19 upended the decades long processes of the fashion industry, screeching production lines, ateliers, and large scale events to a halt. As the globe went into stasis to await whatever was to come (which as we now know was a lot), fashion had to find a way to adapt or sink, and as a $2.5 trillion dollar world economic power, it had to adapt fast. The first waves of covid coincided with the last days of fashion month in early 2020 and despite warnings and fears from outside, many large brands decided to present their collections as planned. As the final model exited the runway at Nicolas Ghesquière’s Louis Vuitton show, no one in the audience could have truly understood how much was about to shift.
While to many fashion media consumers, the disappointment was the lack of big runway shows to fill our eyes with the creativity and drama of final collections, inside the issues were far greater. The attempts to transition an intensely physical creative process to a work-from-home scenario hampered many studios in the coming seasons. Downscaling and relying on their pre-established expertise, even large houses like Alexander McQueen faced fabric shortages in their supply chain. The McQueen team instead used pre-existing fabrics from previous seasons, over dyeing and printing them to appear new. This spirit of repurposing had already begun to emerge as an eco-conscious way to limit production runoff but came to the fore as brands struggled to gain access to once reliable supply. Repurposing and re-invigorating also occurred at Maison Margiela, who through their Artisanal and now expanded Re-Cicla lines, repurpose vintage and second-hand garments, deconstructing and reconstructing them into the brands vision.
Dior’s Haute Couture collection was created in miniature, on third scale mannequins, each dress entrusted to a single seamstress to complete from home in zoom consultation with Maria Grazia Chiuri. Though sadly at Dior after the first set of lockdowns, held their ready-to-wear collection as usual, addressing the pandemic in only its idea of ‘comfort’. Another of her couture shows was a visual feast of mythology, another the manifestation of the Tarot deck, vividly shot in incredible fashion films. Fashion film, a still underutilised form of presentation, became almost the new ModusOperandi for many brands, from small designers and students (for whom it’s more affordable than a traditional runway) as well as big companies experimenting with setting, narrative storytelling and visual effects. Some opted to simply present runways filmed like there was an audience, Rick Owens despite directly addressing the pandemic by being one of the only brands to put masks on every model, sent the looks out in a traditional runway format.
Saint Laurent too decided the catwalk like approach worked, but presented in glorious natural landscapes that flying guests too would have been neigh impossible. These landscapes
sometimes dwarfed the clothes in their grandeur, making the models seem small and at the mercy of the environment they were in, almost an apt metaphor for how the world has been rendered insignificant in the face of nature’s wrath. Other designers used a much more narrative focus or alternative showing method. Exemplifying the story telling ability of film over a catwalk was John Galliano’s ‘A Folk Horror Story’ which followed his triumphant ‘S.W.A.L.K’ collections-documentaries that started off exposing the craftsmanship with hints of narrative focus. The hour long short film utilises visual effects, evocative lighting and filmographic techniques to tell the story of an isolated fishing village overcome by a terrible curse, a story which is not only woven through the film but the clothes themselves. Delft blue embroideries tell the story through isolated pictograms, prints represent drowning and death in subtle yet meaningful symbolic prints, shattered mirrors and shattered dreams intermingle. Conversely, while similarly distancing himself from the traditional Catwalk style, Dries Van Noten’s films throughout the pandemic are a testament to his ingenuity, rejection of the rapidly fastening pace the industry was in before covid and his ability to just make great clothes. His films ooze
with personality from creative lighting choices to dancers to simply exploring the beauty of his clothes, they return in many ways to older era’s of his work which has always been known
for incredible textiles and a wearable ease. The power and accessibility of showing through film cannot be understated, the long underused presentation form allows much more mood and nuance than a livestream of a show with different music and no sense of space. The power and accessibility of showing through film cannot be understated, the long underused presentation form allows much more mood and nuance than a livestream of a show with different music and no sense of space. Nick Knight and his pioneering show Studio have paved the way for a generation of young fashion filmmakers who now get their dues. But it also highlights how quickly the industry drove to return to the status quo.
Fashion weeks returned and big hitters from conglomerate megacorporation’s LVMH and Kering swiftly staged in person large scale events like they have for nearly two decades. Both Dries and Maison Margiela opted to continue showing films, as the pandemic hasn’t gone anywhere and ultimately for someone like Dries, it saves time and money not having to fly out from his Antwerp headquarters. The fashion film can also break apart the traditional schedule, a concept that has come up more and more in recent years as people question the structure of fashion weeks and capitals. The freedom to release whenever and from wherever offers an opening of the industry to new voices who can't afford a hundred thousand dollar show in London, Paris or Milan. And finally, what is being heralded as ‘fashion’s new frontier’, the Metaverse. As brands like Balenciaga have created digital pieces for Fortnite, and Saint Laurent buy’s virtual land in Facebook's futuristic technology, it’s the idea on everyone’s mind. But it remains to be seen if it, like NFT’s and Crypto, will still be mostly accessed by the rich and obsessive. The idea of virtual and technology driven fashion has been around since the retrofuturism of designers like Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne, but ultimately, they still relied on craft and fabrics, not the impossible geometries of 3D modelling and computer graphics. Fashion has always used new technology to push design to the edge, relying increasingly on CAD (computer aided design), 3D printing and social media in the construction and messaging of their clothes. The Metaverse seems to offer another avenue to explore and market the possibilities of design, but it also may come at a cost, the craft that lies at the core of what fashion is. As every Couture season comes around, we ask again and again, what is Couture for and is it dying? It’s continued resonance proves it is far from dying, but what is it for is a crucial question. Ultimately couture is an unparalleled level of creation and hand craft, it’s ateliers preserve the skills and techniques that otherwise, mass production would have killed.
The Metaverse presents clothes devoid from the realm of the physical, and a future where brands can sell us essentially nothing for a premium. There are some positives to this virtual fashion revolution though, as physics can be upended, ideas taken to their most extreme and young creatives able to explore more than just patternmaking and embroidery, but coding and digital literacy. This of course is all yet to be seen as the Metaverse is in its infancy and is dependent on Facebook miraculously becoming a good company that doesn’t censor artists and creatives while promoting misinformation and secularism. Perhaps this is an overly pessimistic view of where this space can take the industry, but a large pile of salt should be taken while observing this frontier, so we don’t all get caught up in the hype. Covid threatened to topple the fashion industry in ways it hadn’t faced in its modern form, but through ingenuity and resilience it persisted in either its relentless pursuit in beauty and creativity, or for the cynic, in profits and capital. Despite the many ways the industry had to look at itself and make changes, many things have returned to status-quo, the newer generation of students who pushed through the pandemic may question the still standing structures more than the established titans. Questions continue to be asked about the institutions of fashion, and covid opened even more, with few solid answers but lots of ideas. The next few years will show us if this topsy-turvy time did turn the industry upside-down for good, or if it was simply a temporary shift. It’s a scary and exciting time.