LONDON—Buying luxury clothes online right off the runway. Trying them on virtually. Not having to wait months for the new collection to ship.
As the fashion world came to London for its semi-annual round of minutely choreographed catwalk shows, luxury designers are shaking up the traditional show and rethinking the way they reach customers to adapt to the age of social media and e-commerce.
Fashion shows have long been about dictating taste, a chance for designers to court powerful magazine editors like Vogue’s Anna Wintour in hopes of winning favorable reviews and, better yet, glossy photo spreads that fashionistas would pore over before going shopping. But in a digital world where trends rip through social media in an instant, bloggers and celebrities are increasingly deciding what’s hot. And customers want it now.
“There’s been a general view that the way fashion shows have operated has become increasingly outdated, especially with fashion shows more open to the mass market on Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook,” said Andrew Hall, a retail consultant with Verdict.retail. “People are able to see it instantly nowadays, when in the past they would be able to consume it only through fashion magazines.”
Rebecca Minkoff is selling the designs right away online. Her hashtag: #SeeBuyWear. Burberry has plans to ditch the time-honored tradition of showcasing clothes six months before the season they are meant for sale. Beginning this fall, it will increase its focus on seasonless clothes and make its designs available as soon as the models show it off. The company also plans to combine its men’s and women’s lines in a single show.
