NYFW isn't "dead," but it is too expensive

(upbeat music) - Hey guys, welcome back to Fashion and Founders the Podcast. My name is Victoria Smith and this week, I'm doing a New York Fashion Week episode. And some of my main takeaways are that Fashion Week is getting too expensive. Point blank period. You can hear from Rebecca Minkoff on our episode about her experience in this. And I kept seeing people say, Fashion Week isn't dead, which yeah, I agree. I don't think it is, but I think it has definitely changed. That's something that I am noting in this episode of all the different ways I think it has changed over the past decade and how this one just felt a little bit different. So to give this episode a bit of organization, I'm kind of breaking it down into a couple parts. First, the headlines everyone was talking about from Fashion Week, like the big shows, and then going into Fashion Tech and new emerging innovation that I was seeing in a panel I went to. And then two services that made my Fashion Week experience so much better that are now kind of musts for me. And then how New York Fashion Week really takes over the city and is something that you don't actually have to be on the official show to be a part of. And we'll hear from a publicist that put on a beautiful brand event. And please share any thoughts that you have from this. I kind of want to make the sub-stack chat feel like a group chat where people can share inside and tell. And there's definitely some things if you're listening to this where I'm sharing my speculation and I'd love to hear if anyone has insight. (upbeat music) One big thing I noticed that everyone was talking about is how three big brands showed off schedule for New York Fashion Week. Ralph Lauren kind of unofficially kicked it off. And I think that really shows that the brand is trying to say like we don't need you, like we're independent and we're strong enough that we don't even need the CFDA schedule, which is interesting. Gigi Hadid walked in their show and I think she was the biggest model that walked for New York Fashion Week. And I think then it was almost like a surprise show for some that that just created even more hype around it. Second, Mark Jacobs also showed off schedule kind of also unofficially kicking it off. I also loved all the color in his show. So much color combo in Spowe. I saw a lot of ice blue, which I loved. And then Tom Brown showed in San Francisco as like a pre-super bowl kickoff because most of the big celebrities were there and they did a GQ bowl. And I think that just really institutionalized this like sports meeting fashion because it was done a sort of official unofficial runway show. I found that one especially interesting because it still had the star power and glamour that comes with a fashion show but proved that you don't have to be tied to a major fashion city to do that. If you have all these other elements. And so it makes me wonder if in the future to stand out to get more press, certain brands that know that they can stand on their own will maybe choose to show in a different city around an event to gain more hype and be like the it thing to go to for that city. Otherwise, you have a packed schedule in New York and people are having to choose between multiple shows and multiple designers and it very much becomes like kind of like a hype contest. I was also really happy for San Francisco for getting that for fashion. So those three are the ones that I think caught my eye the most. And then the other biggest ones were the American kind of classics, if you will, of coach Michael Cors and Tori Birch. And Tori Birch actually shared that they ranked number one in social engagement during New York Fashion Week, specifically attributing this to their TikTok strategy. And one, like congrats to them, but two, it made me think of the episode with Rebecca Mingoff in sharing how expensive Fashion Week is. She said that she thinks you need minimum $250,000 to put on like a decent show and that they would finish these shows and like you hear these kind of vanity metrics of two million engagement or whatever like press hits. And she's like, yeah, but I'm not seeing that directly correlate to sales. Like we didn't make two million sales. And I think you have to be a certain level of a brand for the press engagement to be worth the money. So that's another reason where I'm like, it's getting really expensive and I can't, I would just love to know the actual ROI. I think for smaller emerging designers, it really, it can give you a stamp of approval that you need to get to that next level. But then a Ralph Lauren, for example, can kind of do whatever they want in this situation. And then a lot of people were talking about Rachel Scott's debut for Proenza. Okay, another reason why I felt like this New York Fashion Week was a little different. The CFD announced a fur band for Fashion Week in early December and saying beginning September, 2026, the CFD will no longer permit animal fur and collections on the official New York Fashion Week schedule. So one, is that a reason why three major designers showed off schedule? I don't know. I don't think there was any fur and tom brown. They mainly focus on suiting. But I also noticed that the schedule for New York came out so late this year. I don't know if anyone picked up on this, but usually I would say it's out by, definitely by Christmas. And it felt like every other city had put out their schedule, even ones that were showing after New York, except for New York. And I was talking to someone and they were like, I think it's because of the fur and brands are trying to navigate that. I wonder now if they were trying to get Ralph Lauren to show on the schedule. I don't know. This is all kind of like my speculation. Let me know if you have any thoughts though or intel. And this brings me to the innovation fashion tech part. I went to a panel with the public school designers and founders as well as the founder of Next Experiences and SAP. And they were talking about their vision for the future of New York Fashion Week, being more like an art puzzle where the whole city becomes part of the experience. And you don't have to be invited to an official show or showing at one to really take part in it. And we already have that going on, obviously. So many brands have pop-ups and events and all these people come into the city who don't have any plans to go to an official show, but because there's so much creative energy merging in the city for those few days. You want to be a part of it. It's great to have meetings, et cetera. And so it's already kind of like that. But I think they have a vision of making it bigger and grander and they told me this kind of blew my mind. 500,000 people come to New York for the few days that are Fashion Week. Like new people who come into the city, half a million people is a lot. So I think there's so much potential to engage that audience. And I'm excited to see what they have in store. They said they're really gonna be launching something in September. And this is Next Experiences. And public school was their first partner in this. So they did the whole show for public school. This was public school's first time showing in seven years. And so already, I think September is always a bigger Fashion Week than February is. I want to attribute some of that to the weather for sure. But I'm definitely really excited to see what they have coming up. I want to have them on the podcast at some point too. I would definitely follow and see what they're up to because they also have a retail innovation lab that I hope is still live because I would recommend going where they're really integrating technology into the in-store experience. And a way that I think people often talk about wanting and brands talk about needing that information, but no one's really done it or integrated it. So cool to see questions that are posed of like, we would love to know if there's a certain section of the store that people naturally gravitate towards. And that way we can move more pieces to that section because actually it turned out that no one goes to the x corner of the store like they're doing that. They have digital passport products on all of the pieces in that store so you can trace it. If you resell it and you can learn more about the story in the materials, super cool. And then they also had, I posted a video of this on Instagram, like a clueless closet, smart mirror, where you can scan the item that you've picked with the digital passport product and it'll show you more about it. It'll tell you pieces that you could style with it. You could look through the 2026 runway show on there. Really cool, really fun. And it's just, I'm so happy to see these like ideas truly coming to life and being supported in such an institutional way by being a part of fashion week, even though it is an emerging designer, right? But I think it's a really big step. And so that was an event I really enjoyed attending. And another thing I noticed that made this fashion week feel different and why I think it is already starting to feel like art basil. One I think can happen in New York of all of the fashion weeks. The US is just more commercial than Paris, for example, obviously, like it's gonna always be more traditional there, I think. But one thing that really stuck out to me in this area was I saw brands giving away tickets to shows and showrooms, to their users, to their members to their communities and that I haven't seen before and doesn't feel like something a Paris show would ever do. They, I think, for some, and I'm like all for it, I'll say that. I think it's really unique and a unique partnership, especially for emerging designers or if it's a brand that can contribute something new to the show. Like I love that they are bringing in community members to the fashion shows and quote-unquote like average people can be a part of it, but I think in itself that is changing New York Fashion Week. And I think this happened a long time ago with influencers going, but that makes the shows and showrooms different from when it was just press and buyers and celebrities. Like that in itself is quite a big change and is kind of already opening up those gates. So yeah, I don't know, let me know if you think of any other examples. What I'm thinking of is cake gave away tickets to their members and then the real real. If you can sign something in person in New York, you have a chance to win a ticket to a show that they were partnering with by giving them pieces that were consigned or like in their archive for the show to use, which is like a really cool talk, but it's just a difference from what this was like 20 years ago that I think is kind of feeding into this narrative of like, is Fashion Week dead? It's changed so much and so I think though it's going to get much more open. I think in the future it'll be like 80% open and then that 20% will be like the Ralph Lauren's and Mark Jacobs and people who really want to differentiate themselves and say no, we are still part of like the exclusive club and everyone else to kind of stay afloat and get press will be way more open. Something I love to do on the podcast and is a reason I started all of this is having a lot of questions about what goes on behind the golden curtains of the fashion industry and wanting to know what it is and wanting to be a part of it. And one of those behind the scene things, especially for Fashion Week, is how do these people influencer celebrities, whatever, where multiple different outfits every day, where are they getting these clothes? How do they afford it? They're getting their hair and makeup done. Are they getting it for free? How? What's the deal? I'll definitely share that there's a couple different avenues that this goes. One that is very common is you get to pull stuff. So a brand will either send you or you go to like a showroom. You'll kind of tell them like what events you're going to or maybe you're going to their specific show and you get to borrow pieces essentially to wear it for the show, get your photograph and then return it and then they get to use the content of you in it as like a marketing tool essentially a marketing resource. So that's very common that you have to return something. That's how it often works with stylists too. Like the stylist either owns the clothes or is borrowing it from these brands under the assumption that they'll return it. And then another avenue of course is gifting. So sometimes you get to keep the clothes or if the brand wants to establish a relationship they'll send it to you and then offer to gift it. I think it's just like important to know and like reality check myself, yourself, whatever. Of like yes, there's a standard of like, oh my god, I need to keep up with this. But there are entire teams behind those people and they're often not spending their own money on it. And they're also often getting paid for it. So I think that's just really important to remember if you fall into like a comparison moment. And that's why I think something like rental and rent the runway is so cool and such an amazing service because you too then get to borrow clothes for specific events at a fraction of the cost. Get your picture, get to be seen in that brand if that's what you want and are looking for and then return it. And I think brands like that services like that help level the playing field. And another one that I mentioned is the hair, the makeup, the beauty, whatever. And so yeah, often a makeup artist or a hair artist or a brand wants you to promote their services, wants you to promote the product and they'll pay for you to use it. And so you kind of just like get it, get the service for free. It trusts them. It has like an activation around New York Fashion Week with influencers. But another service that I think lets the average person get that luxury experience is glam squad where you literally can just stay at home. You can be in your own robe or whatever and a professional will come to your house, do your hair, do your makeup and it's so easy. And it I think it's such a luxury to not have to like take the subway after you get your hair done. Like God forbid it's raining. I know that's happened to me. And I used glam squad for the first time this New York Fashion Week and it was just like one of those services where you're like, oh, it's a little bit hard for me to go back to what I was doing before because this was really great and took out so much friction from my life. I literally got a blowout at home in 30 minutes and it lasted me the whole week and they actually gave me a code to share with you guys. You can get $20 off your blowout with code in all caps, fashion and founders. And I think this brings your blowout to under $50. Oh my gosh, them on my website right now and you can also get an at home manicure pedicure. I want to do that. And something I think would be so fun to do. You can book their services for a group and I think it'd be so fun to have some friends over and we all get blowouts together and then go to an event like I feel like if you're having a birthday and want to do something special. So those are two that I wanted to share and if you have anything else that you've uncovered, so you're like this is something that has changed my life or is a service that I now can't live without or this is how things actually happen in the background. People should know please share and maybe I can start like a list of little secret luxuries that improve your life. So I think it's so interesting. And another thing that I touched on when I want to come back to is how many brands will host pop ups or events or activations during New York Fashion Week that aren't showing. And kind of his understanding how much work goes into it. When do they start planning for it? Like what's the ethos of doing it then? And one that I went to was in FISA had this beautiful like wine bar activation with the lip glosses everywhere. Also my favorite lip gloss ever truly. And I talked to PJ who does their PR and she said that they started planning for the event in early December. And I think sometimes for sure brands put on events last minute and it's scrappy and whatever. But a lot of them take a lot of time and dedication and it's a lot of emails back and forth and ordering things on time and just to put it out there if you're looking to do an event soon. And she shared some behind the scenes with me that it all began with finding a space that felt intimate and true to the brand. There was a lot of venue scouting and then aligning every branded touch point was a goal for especially their new launch of the angel food gloss. And you could really tell at the event that there was literally every single branded touch point. There was branded dice on the tables and stickers and matchbooks and the wine bottles had stickers like I'm not doing it justice. I'll put some pictures into the sub stack for this episode, but truly so so beautiful. And obviously another big part of that is bringing together a group of people from taste makers, editors and friends of the brand to connect in a cozy setting that allows the product to speak for itself. And such a beautiful event does take a lot of behind the scenes coordination and logistics. And PJ also shared that fashion week was a blur in the best way of reconnecting with older new friends and collaborators that come into town that really allows you to lean into the energy in the city at that moment with so many creative people in New York at once. So even honestly I would encourage you if you don't have official invites to a show or a showroom or an event like just being in the city sometimes and trying to meet with people and see what you can go to can be so fruitful. And then two more events I'll touch on that I went to and could really feel the community for was cake the fashion tech app a style the founder has been on the podcast before they hosted an event with favorite daughter. It was also an event where I got to see old friends and meet new people which I loved and I got to meet a lot of people who listen to the podcast and that was so fun for me. And if you ever see me please say hi like I love meeting people who listen. It's so cool to me. And then also having mayhem which is an LA based brand but they did a community event in New York and so if that interests you I believe Pia shared it in her broadcast channel and if you just join there they often post about little community events or bringing people together sharing new product etc. And then to talk about some of the takeaways from the presentations and showrooms that I went to I went to Ruda and there was such an emphasis on quality material and the story behind it and where it came from that I really loved and I think I'm noticing this return to an emphasis on what clothing is made out of. I kind of feel like it was so important way back when and then it just became like what is cheaper and what can be faster and like oh that's a water slicking material because it has exchemical and complex. and we were prioritizing convenience. And now I think people are fatigued by it and they wanna come back to something with a story with quality, at least I am and I'm noticing that in my conversations with people and they had this beautiful Argyle sweater. Also, Argyle was a pattern I was noticing in a lot of designers' collections. Like theory had one as well. That was another show I went to. And they're interesting because they said that they used to be so focused on workwear and what you wear to the office. And I even told them I was like, I'm pretty sure my first suit ever for like a job interview was from theory. And the girl I was talking to was like, yeah, a lot of people say that. And now we're actually pivoting less like formal suits to elevated pieces because office dressing has changed so much since COVID. Everyone's just like more relaxed. And so I think it's another interesting thing when you step back and see that fashion is not just close, it's culture and global economics and world moments coming together into one fusion that can show up in what we wear and what brands are putting out there to meet new needs before we might even realize it. It was especially when I was at theory that I was like, oh my gosh, I wanna buy one of these pieces like right now and then I remembered that it's all coming out for six months and I sometimes just forget and have to like clock myself with that 'cause we're so used to having everything immediately. I was also thinking that it's kind of a brave thing to do to show a collection six months before it'll be available to purchase because of the prevalence of fast fashion now that I'm like, they're probably copying a lot of these designs, which sucks. But obviously they have to still keep putting stuff out there. I don't know, I just thought it was interesting and I understand why so many brands now only do ready to wear because of that fear so shout out to all of them. I also got to see Don't Let Disco is presentation of her fine jewelry collection and I was introduced to Ashley by Hillary and Rachel who was on the podcast. And her pieces are so cool she went through this CFDi fund, this emerging designer. And she was using all these upcycled or vintage beads a lot from the real real pieces they would get. And one of my favorites that I tried on was this choker with a pendant that was actually a bangle that she put into it. And I just love the creativity that can come with something vintage and upcycled and that Ashley portrayed through her collection. I feel like we're gonna be seeing her pieces like a Myterisa or Moda very, very soon. Okay, I think that's everything from me. I actually recorded this twice 'cause I realized the first time I missed a bunch of things that I wanted to say. Thank you guys so much for listening and I'll talk to you next week.