Despite no audiences, NYFW aims to support up-and-coming designers

With almost no live audiences and few majornames, New York Fashion week, which opens Sunday in city that was ravaged bythe pandemic, is not giving up -- and is trying to help American designerssurvive an unprecedented crisis.

Don't bother looking for Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren,regular heavy-hitters on the lineup. They won't be attending this FashionWeek, which will last only three days, from Sunday evening to Wednesday.

Eager to sell off some of the considerable stock accumulated since thestart of the pandemic and sometimes held back by a much-slowed productionchain, the big designers are showing their new collections later, separatefrom the usual fashion calendar.

Marc Jacobs has given up his spring-summer 2021 collection altogether.

The only fashion giant attending this week will be Tom Ford, who will showhis new collection virtually for the closing event Wednesday night.

His presence is a symbol of the willpower of the Council of FashionDesigners of America (CFDA), of which Ford is the chairman, to supportAmerican design houses of all sizes -- many teetering on the brink.

Historically, American high-end ready-to-wear designs have relied heavilyon department stores, which were in bad shape themselves and have fallen likedominoes during the pandemic, from Barneys and Lord & Taylor to Neiman Marcus.

In-person fashion shows have practically vanished from the calendar thisseason, with a few (very rare) exceptions, including Jason Wu's opening showon Sunday, or Rebecca Minkoff, whose presentation is on Tuesday.

Even if New York has become one of the stronger case studies in recovery,the US has struggled to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, whichexplains the discrepancies with Paris, Milan or London fashion weeks, wherelive fashion shows were much more frequent.

NYFW makes digital debut with hopes of exposing fashion's newcomers

Apart from health risks, "when trying to simply pay as many employees as Ican and not have to make further cuts or furloughs, to spend several milliondollars on a show makes no sense," Ford said in an interview with industrypublication Women's Wear Daily.

Ever the pragmatist, the 59-year-old, generally clad in a black suit,doesn't anticipate a "normal" season before fall 2021.

In order to help American designers hang on, the CFDA invested in a newplatform -- named Runway360 -- that is accessible to designers for free andlets fashion houses show their collections and create virtual events aroundtheir designs.

More than 50 of the 70 or so designers on the agenda for New York FashionWeek are using Runway360. Some of them have filmed their shows in New York inadvance and will stream the videos at their appointed time.

But even without in-person shows, "fashion is a business, and Fashion Weekis a platform for designers to do business," CFDA CEO Steven Kolb told AFP.

Crucially, "Fashion Week is about jobs... it's about people's livelihoods.It's about moving forward, but cautiously, with safety in mind," he said.

Many young designers view this uncharted period as "an opportunity to getexposed," said Geoffrey Owens, an African-American designer showing his veryfirst collection for his label Zoonek at the Flying Solo show.

Just one year ago, Owens, also a minister, was cutting hair in his salon inVirginia Beach, dreaming of fashion.

Already skilled in drawing, he learned how to sew in just 30 days and wasable to "activate that gift."

"Doors have been opening ever since," he said.

Fellow newbie Fashion Week presenter Mohamed ElMadawy echoed the hope:"Those big brands are not showing as aggressively anymore, so I think I have abetter chance" of breaking through, he said.

ElMadawy is Egyptian and has been living in New York since 2012. He isshowing his first collection at Fashion Week for his brand Elmadawy on Sunday,also at the show by Flying Solo, a cutting-edge boutique in SoHo that scoutsand promotes emerging designers.

For Owens, a designer's role is to "set the bar" for society and "bring usout of... that dark place" of the past six months.

"Let's live again," he said.(AFP)

Photo: Tibi SS21, Catwalkpictures