The set of a fashion show sets the scene and mood for the show that’s about to happen. It can make a fashion show a more immersive experience and gives us more context to the collection we are about to see. It gives us a peek into the world of the designer and stimulates all of our senses.
Every fashion brand is struggling right now. They are doing all they can to excite customers, buyers, and reviewers. Moschino put on puppet shows to display their clothes. Yet it doesn’t seem to be having the impact that the Chanel Rocket did. “On average, digital shows, videos and presentations generated less than one-third as much online engagement,” according to the BOF.
This is not due to the quality of work that is being put out by designers. In the midst of this tumultuous time many designers are putting interesting and noteworthy work. Valentino’s Fall 2020 Couture show received widespread critical claim yet it still didn’t have a huge amount of engagement. This mellowed response to these shows could be for multiple reasons. There is a lot going on in the world right now, and fashion can seem quite trivial at times like these. Other factors could be the lack of audience. Celebrities and influencers were usually in the audiences of these shows, creating excitement and attracting their fans to the show. It can also seem pointless to watch a livestream or an IGTV of a show when you can pull up the Vogue Runway app and simply scroll through all of the looks.
One agreed upon feeling from all this, though, is that fashion shows cannot go back to the way they once were. “We cannot go back to the business as it existed before including fashion shows, because they were already bloated and boring,” said casting director James Scully, who believes the majority of the digital shows failed to innovate despite the creative and logistical constraints. “People trying to go back to that feels tone deaf and not modern, and what impressed me the most were the people that actually took the time during COVID-19 to sit and think about where we are now, what we can do.”
