New York Fashion Week is one of the most glamorous events of the fall and spring seasons. All of my favorite celebrities are in the city attending the shows, dinners, and most exclusive parties. They’re all so close (Snapchat tells me so!), but still just out of reach, and no matter what I just can’t seem to catch a glimpse of my faves. Believe me I’ve tried-think two spottings of model Willy Cartier at work and a mad hunt to track down Rihanna with my best friend before class, but both attempts proved futile.
How could anyone have survived New York Fashion Week pre-Snapchat? What would life be like if I couldn’t open an app to see my favorite fashion model share a video of the store she’s shopping at during her downtime, or see my fashion icon, Rihanna, snap pics of herself having dinner at that restaurant just down the street from my job?
I’d certainly be way more “out of the loop” on New York Fashion Week and all of its surrounding festivities, but so would the other millions of fashion enthusiasts in the world. As sad as that thought makes me, that very sense of exclusivity is kind of what makes Fashion Week, Fashion Week. Having this ability to see so much behind the scenes footage of my favorite two weeks of the year nearly makes me feel like an industry insider myself. And maybe I’m not physically in the room, but as many Instagram videos and Snapchats as I’ve seen in real-time, I may as well be…right?
Prior to the boom in social media, it was hard to know every tiny detail of what happened at these chic fashion shows and parties. Unless I happened to know “a friend of a friend” who could get me in, — or simply get invited — the agony of not attending Fashion Week eats away at my soul. Thanks to social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, the world of fashion feels more accessible.
I have plenty of friends that are a lot more interested in Fashion Week — and fashion, general — than they were before. Perhaps this rise in importance of social media is more beneficial to the fashion industry than harmful, and actually creates a whole new wave of followers. Not only are things like Snapchat and Instagram changing the way which Fashion Week is presented to the general public, but it is affecting what designers put on the runway.
One designer, Desigual, even completed their runway looks with make-up inspired by Snapchat filters. If Snapchat wasn’t important, I don’t think we would see models walking the runway at Fashion Week with “flower crown” and “doggy” filters.
Ten years ago, it would have been pretty hard to see footage of runway shows if I wasn’t actually there. In more recent years, I can rely only on some shows being streamed online. Now, with the amount of fashion bloggers, It girls, and celebrities sharing footage of entire shows as they takes place, viewers all around the world can have immediate access to something what was once only seen by the eyes in the room. This technology has redefined the way that the fashion industry is received by the masses, and I find it hard not to wonder if dissolving this wall of exclusivity is for the best.
Although I sometimes feel like technology, social media and “fast-fashion” are watering down the fashion industry, I have to admit that these things have shifted the way that fashion is created and perceived by audiences. The producers of Fashion Week have definitely taken note of this impact by creating their own official snapchat account to follow the latest information from the shows. Viewers now have the option to get the most up to date information straight from the official Fashion Week page, just by opening an app on their phone.
I often complain that the fashion industry just isn’t what it used to be, but all in all, I think it is heading in the right direction. Maybe this budding importance in social media is exactly what the fashion industry needs to be valued more by those who don’t consider themselves fashion lovers.