With social media now an ever present force in the fashion industry, from a host of supermodels snapchatting their back stage antics, to the fashion houses uploading their trends fresh off the runway straight onto their instagram pages, it is the dawn of a new season-less fashion era.
In a society where we can see something online, order it and have it delivered to our doorstep the next day, by an often too familiar deliveryman. This kind of see-now-buy-now attitude has been absent in fashion week; with shoppers having to wait months to snap up the looks they admired on the runway. Instead of lusting over the clothes and eagerly anticipating their release, fashion lovers are able to buy replicas of the trends at a fraction of the cost before the actual clothes are even available to buy.
With social media pages at our fingertips producing a constant stream of images of clothes from the runway, by the time we can even think (or dream) about getting our hands on them, they don’t seem quite so swoon-worthy as they first did. We’ve seen countless copies of the pieces and probably already have them hanging in our wardrobes.
So with the way in which we have access to fashion changing, some designers have recognized there is a niche for an alternative way of releasing their clothing. While some designers trialled this idea last season, SS17 has seen big names follow suit and continue this revolutionary way of shopping. Names include Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger, who has just collaborated with supermodel Gigi Hadid on his latest collection. This will sure enough result in a whole new band of younger fans fighting to snap up his latest pieces.
So what are the positives of these new innovative and seasonless collections? Now, whilst still basking in the hype surrounding the show, shoppers can have immediate access to their favourite looks and purchase them instantly from their iPhones. These forward-thinking designers are adapting to our fast paced way of life and maximising their selling potential by allowing all the shopaholics out there to buy recklessly on impulse. With LFW drawing to a close, it will be interesting to see which other designers will jump onto this trend next season. For now, it seems this could be the future of runway fashion in the age of social media.
