As I pack my bags for “September in Paris” I am once again reminded just how powerful a platform the fashion runway is not only for a designer but for anyone seeking notoriety. Do you want to launch a product, a service an idea, a line of clothes, bags or shoes? Wines, beverages, and other ancillary products are also launched during this period making it an excellent way to tie-in brands. I often suggest to small companies to “piggy back” onto a larger brand’s platform to increase their own press and sales. Fashion Week fuels not only the brands that participate but the economy as a whole. A number of cities like to adopt fashion week as a marketing platforms to enhance travel, cuisine, restaurants, hotels and in last place, there is fashion. I would like to see more cities take on the idea of developing fashion, the arts or crafts of their own region into the fashion week concept into a more authentic experience that starts with new talent, ecology, fundraising and more.
What really works? Developing young talent often falls to the local schools and this also is beneficial for the region as well. I would like to see smaller US markets take on the idea of fashion week and explore new ways to do it. Partners in business and travel would automatically follow and an entire region can be built up to increase visibility for the area. Eco Fashion is one sector that has only just begun as has technology and fashion. Both have a place in fashion’s mainstream but have yet to ‘crack’ into the larger markets and to be taken seriously. This will change, and I am very excited about this possibility.
I welcome the idea of putting a traditional fashion week on notice, and exploring new ways of integrating the business, the art, sustainability and technology.
ARTIFICE ATELIER
ARTIFICE Atelier 