Fashion Week: Fall/Winter 2008 Collections
March 10, 2008
by
findingDulcinea Staff
This week is dedicated to the 2008 Fall/Winter collections and the ample Web resources available for all of the main events. We'll take you to the online homes of magazines, newspapers, fashion bloggers, and, of course, the designers themselves. You might not have a front row seat next to Vogue's Anna Wintour, but you'll be just as educated on the current trends. We'll start with an introduction to this massively popular event, and spend the next four days covering the major host cities' 2008 offerings.
About Fashion
In February and March fashion's biggest fans and industry experts gather in the Paris, Milan, London and New York for a week of runway shows and parties known collectively as Fall/Winter Fashion Week. Fashion journalists, celebrities and luxury-goods consumers, in addition to buyers from major retailers, are among the guests at hundreds of events showcasing the upcoming spring and summer collections. The press, primarily magazine staff, are given ample time to review the collections and plan their fall issues. The retailers get a chance to decide what items to order for their stores. Their advance notice gives manufacturers time to acquire fabrics and patterns and fulfill retail demands.
Fashion History
Right after 2007’s Fall/Winter shows, the online magazine Slate published an article, "A Brief History of the Fashion Show" that explores the phenomenon both as a weeklong spectacle and as an individual event. Writer Amanda Fortini claims, "no one has yet written a definitive history of the fashion show." She then takes up the challenge in this brief but thorough article that introduces us to the whys and wherefores of Fashion Week. Within the article she also links to several good sites that act as an interactive bibliography for readers.
Source: Slate
Also on Slate, Josh Patner answers some of the most frequently asked questions about Fashion Week.
The Big Issues
Fashion isn't always about glamour. In recent years there has been much discussion regarding too-thin models. Extreme dieting has led to the death of at least three models in the past two years. In attempts to make positive in-roads on this issue, the officials at Madrid's 2007 Fall/Winter Fashion Week banned models under a certain body mass index (BMI), the calculation of weight versus height commonly used as a guideline for nutrition and physical health. Models had to have a BMI of at least 18. For example, to attain this number, a woman who is 5’9” must weigh at least 123 pounds.
The new rule in Spain ended up disqualifying 30 percent of the models who applied to participate in the event. CNN discusses the controversy surrounding the exclusion of very thin models. Show organizers are under pressure to portray models as healthy, while some industry insiders are concerned about freedom of expression and the models’ rights.
Source: CNN
New York Times columnist Guy Trebay, in 2007, discussed the current concern over young models.
Source: New York Times
So weight isn’t the only problem. On the Today Show, the brash Janice Dickinson, whose claim to fame is “World’s First Supermodel,” gave her opinion on the debate over a 13-year-old-Australian girl walking the runway.
Source: MSNBC
Progressive Strides
A recent resolution by the British Fashion Council states that Fashion Week events should only employ models over the age of 16. With better regulations in place, last Fall’s Spring/Summer events began with many more healthy-looking models visible on the runways. This is evident in designer Betsey Johnson’s show, in which models are slender but not scarily thin. See behind-the-scenes photos, interviews, and video from Johnson’s show at Elle.
Source: Elle
The Play-by-Play
Fashion Week is a hot topic in the blogging world, and the events are amply covered by popular blogs such as Fashion Week Daily. FWD is known for its colorful design, which plays off the tabloid-newspaper style with big fonts and bright colors.
Source: Fashion Week Daily
While Fashion Week Daily sticks around for all 52 weeks of the year with fresh content every day, their rundown of Fashion Week is particularly notable. FWD writes runway reviews of practically every designer, running to dozens of pages and complete with photos. Read the reviews of designers, which starts with Paris Fashion Week and works backwards chronologically to Milan, London, and New York.
Source: Fashion Week Daily
Style.com's blog, the Style File, brings us some crucial tidbits on Spring/Summer developments, often reporting anecdotes about models, designers, parties, special events and trends before anyone else.
Return tomorrow for a virtual guide to the fashion shows at New York Fashion Week.
Return tomorrow for a virtual guide to the fashion shows at New York Fashion Week.
Source: Style.com
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