First New York Fashion Week

The references to emergency service uniforms in Raf Simons' collection for Calvin Klein could have been a metaphor for New York Fashion Week in its entirety. This season, too, it was Raf who loosened clothes at New York Fashion Week and tried to breathe the victim lying on the ground. As the fashion week gasps for fresh air, the old-established New Yorkers diligently see off. The Belgian alone is the first aid to the American dream.

If you look, there are ruins: Hollywood's settings are crumbling because of the tartar scandal and the image of Bruce Weber's portfolio as All-American fashion darling, which combined the two industries with its aesthetics, also disappears. Just as Delpozo, Altuzarra, Thom Browne, Rodarte, Proenza Schouler and Tome flee with their collections on European fashion weeks and turn their backs on New York. So City is thrown back on a club of senior veterans who polishes his medals and nostalgically wraps himself back in the old days with the music of Cole Porter. In her last show, Caroline Herrera was "complemented" with applause (to use the business jargon when an employee leaves a company) - a parade of gleaming white shirts on the catwalk putting up collars.

A bad lack of vision

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In a globally flourishing luxury market, the big American brands are risk-averse and cautious. The Costume of East Coast Capitalism - peacoats and polo shirts, insignia, coats of arms, logos and loafers - was reissued by Gucci in the style of a Coney Island Circus and clinically dissected by Vetements through the Normcore filter. American houses, on the other hand, continue to take themselves and this worn-out uniform seriously. New York is the proud start to the Fashion Week month, but does not notice that it's totally off the mark with its buttoned, pomaded outfit in business casual. The city negates trends in favor of classics based on hollow traditions and business-as-usual. The irony,

First aid for the dying New York Fashion Week

As steppe runners run across the catwalk of Donna Karan and Michael Kors sends Melania Trump clones over them, Robin Givhan of The Washington Post writes about Ralph Lauren's show: "One sometimes wonders if Ralph Lauren's design studios are hermetically sealed. Open the windows? Can fresh air come in? "Thus, it is only to be hoped that CEO Steven Kolb and important members of the CFDA will be called to a conference table and at least discuss the possibility of a pacemaker.

Kill your darlings

Successful designer engagements from the recent past have shown that creative talent does not necessarily have to be close to an established house in order to successfully continue its legacy for a new generation. Should a house like Donna Karan languish just because there can never be another Ms. Karan? Riccardo Tisci had little to do with Hubert de Givenchy, but it did not stop him from reinventing his house for the new millennium. Before joining Calvin Klein, Raf Simons had already taken over Dior's successful reissue, following the scandal surrounding his predecessor John Galliano. Yves Saint Laurent's typical customers did not even buy their drugs from Hedi Slimane's grunge group, but sales of the modelab rose rapidly during Slimane's four-year commitment to the brand. The extravagant John Galliano could not have stood up to retired artist Martin Margiela, but his handling of the house's heritage over the last three years was respectfully bold, which is loudBusiness of Fashion has led to double-digit growth.

Passion and profit

Renzo Russo, the mastermind behind the Galliano / Margiela merger, said about Maison Margiela: "It's a niche brand. I want to lead a product with real passion and not become the biggest brand in the world. "BoF noted that Renzo does not expect the house to more than double its current position ($ 160 million compared to $ 5 billion) Turning sales into a mega-brand like Chanel.) Passion for profit means optimistic thinking. Perhaps the flagging American houses must accept that the point of view of a creative director should not be reduced to how well he understands your DNA or how tenderly he handles the archive. He will tie it where the house is. You have to manage it without micromanagement and allow it to killing a few 'darlings' for a new brand dialogue. The result will be an authentic response to the story of a home rather than a memorized but irrelevant echo.

Cultural appropriation done right

Bringing in creatives from outside the brand can also be a life-giving power. It is cultural appropriation as it should be. The outsider can rediscover the history of the house, combine, omit and reassemble its codes in an unexpected way. Simons received much criticism for the surprising decision to put the Kardashians in his Calvin Klein underwear advertising campaign, but it was the most watched ad on Youtube in January with 15.4 million views. Transforming the views into sales allows him to continue his artist collaborations and continue to bring his subversive and highly valued vision of modern America to the catwalk.

The generational gap

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Simons described the importance of his Calvin Klein collection as an "allegory for a clash of old worlds and new worlds" that sums up what's missing on the NYFW catwalks. This gap between the glorious past and an uncertain future is also reflected in Robin Givhan's comment that the Ralph Lauren collection is "pure legacy and tradition and not an ounce of fun." So, could the adaptation of the numbers be fun? what would happen if free-thinker Riccardo Tisci started with Donna Karan, what would a less stereotypical version of women-friendly clothing like Diane von Furstenberg do - could we lure Simone Rocha? How about the British prodigy Matty Bovan, when Anna Sui retires with her velvet and sequins? Instead of Gigi Hadid for Tommy Hilfiger, let's try a real designer, say, Juun J, and see what he would do with the basics of denim, streetwear and logos in the States? Craig Green's military-sharp cuts and bold geometries could serve as a defibrillator on Michael Kors chest ... Beeeeep beeeeeep, "Clear!"