The runway is out of fashion
The fashion industry is trying to survive in the absence of physically parading its wares
confined spaces) are permitted.
SAFW was plotting a digital migration long before the lockdown. Over the past few years, Booyzen has become concerned about the function of SAFW, viewing it as increasingly becoming less about the collections on display and more about the people in attendance. “Rather than spending lots of money and having big venues, we were looking at new ways of showing collections,” she says. The plan was to hold intimate shows with fewer attendants.
To make up for a smaller physical audience, SAFW used its socialmedia platforms and website to roll out video content of the 2020 autumn/winter collections. On its Instagram, for example, SAFW posted 26 virtual runway shows over the course of four days. Designers included Selfi, Artclub and Friends, Bi Parel, The Bam Collective, Research Unit and Judith-atelier.
These collections will be available in stores and online in June and July, meaning the social media roll-outs of the archival video content serve as advertising.
In terms of the reach of this socialmedia advertising, SAFW has more than 69000 followers on Instagram, 33000 on Facebook, 1 130 on Youtube, 1 500 on Linkedin and 482000 on Twitter. In 2019, it generated more than 9.9-million impressions across these platforms.
Both the fast and bespoke arms of the fashion industry benefit from riding this advertising wave.
Every season, and a few times in between, they have new capsules or collections. When these new garments are ready, their advertising goes to work convincing consumers that what was in last season is now out. Creating this need for what’s new is how they sell units.
From the consumer’s point of view, life under lockdown is an opportunity to reflect on the roles of clothes and how they serve us. On the other hand, the gratification, escapism and hope that comes from online retail therapy can temporarily ease the feelings of boredom, loneliness and panic that come with this lockdown while supporting local brands (read small business).
But it is also the case that fashion platforms need us to buy into their brands for them to keep operations going. As Robyn Keyser of Artclub and Friends told the M&G last week, “I don’t want to encourage people to buy things that they don’t necessarily need”, even though she needs the income.
Deciding which side of the fence to sit on would be easier if production limbo wasn’t threatening, or even erasing, incomes. Designers are artists and their work, although wearable, serves as social commentary for both the designer and the wearer. Their work, and the need to be compensated for it, is valid.