New York Fashion Week is coming up, and while that's amazingly exciting (goose bumps!) I had to sit and think about all the other things that I've seen on tumblr and twitter. It seems as if there's a show somewhere in the world every 5 minutes.
Since it's still January, I want to take a second for us all to understand that there is a Fashion Calendar. An actual schedule that revolves around the basic premise that stores and some of the richer customers need months of lead time to identify trends and solidify orders. Before we had instant bloggers and fast fashion, the designers would show at different points of the year and then the buyers and clients would come and order their clothing.
The items would then have to manufactures and shipped, and by the time it reached the stores for public consumption you would see the clothing in the magazines and make YOUR selection. Most magazines had a 90 day lead time on their stories, and thus was the fashion of yesteryear.
Lately, things have gotten scrambled but the stately fashion calendar marches on regardless.
The Couture collections are done for the Fall and Spring seasons. In January, the spring shows start happening in Paris. The couture designers are a select group who have proven that they have the vision and knowledge to create high end garments, that can be meticulously fitted to a clients body. Chanel, Giambatista Valley, Maison Martin Margiela, and Valentino are couturiers.
Spring Collections: January
Fall Collections: July
RTW:
Ready to Wear (Pret a Porter) is what we see in the 'better' department stores. ladies suits, dresses, gowns, etc. This is what the fashion weeks center around- the presentation of various and sundry designers to buyers and journalists for commerce and publicity.
New York Fashion Week is first (because we rock like that), then London, then Milan, and finally back to Paris. This is done twice a year.
Fall: 2nd week of February to 1st week of March (Remember- Fall collections are being shown, so these clothes aren't slated to arrive in stores until, well, Fall)
Spring: is shown the 2nd week of September, so those clothes would be arriving in stores right after the Resort clothing is all gone.
RESORT:
Resort (Cruise, Pre-Spring) is clothing that's meant to be worn on vacation. Or at least that's how it started. Now it's a shifting thing unto itself. Karl Lagerfeld has turned resort into a bigger deal every year
Shows happen in May and June, so that you can start packing that suitcase for St Bart's in November.
PRE-FALL:
This was the season that made me want to write this article. Just as I was trying to keep an eye out for holiday shopping stories, pre-fall collections were all over the internet. Curious, I found out that pre-fall is sort of a stunt to keep people interested. It used to be something only for the industry, but you know people can't keep a secret these days so now the public, general consumers know about it as well.
These shows happen in December, but the shows won't actually (except for ripoffs) be in stores until the following summer.
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