Three years ago in the midst of the financial crash, Sarah Mower, the British Fashion Council’s ambassador for emerging talent and a writer (she was awarded an MBE for it), in conjunction with the British Fashion Council, set up what she called “the London Showrooms”. A temporary salon during Paris Fashion Week for young UK designers not yet ready to pay for their own showrooms around the world, or organise them, but eager to reach those among the international fashion body who might not have made it to the London shows because of budget or time.
It was a big success, and since then she has introduced such showrooms in Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong, as well as another in Paris for menswear, and potentially one in Tokyo this year.
And, in the manner of all good ideas, it is being copied. By pretty much any city that wants to be a serious fashion city.
Three seasons ago the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the BFC’s American equivalent, set up a similar space in Paris, underwritten by Tommy Hilfiger; last season, the French introduced the “designer’s apartment”; and this season Germany has got in on the game, with a “Berlin Showroom”.
You know what they say: two’s company, three’s a crowd, and four’s a trend!
OK, they don’t say that. But it makes sense, no?
Granted, there are some philosophical differences between the showrooms. The American one is much smaller, with only 10 designers compared with London’s 22, and filled with more established names, such as Suno and Wes Gordon, whose New York presentations were jam-packed. This can make the initiative seem more like a showcase of US talent than an actual leg up for some of those involved, many of whom already have French reps.
The French one, meanwhile, is held in its home city, which seems counter-productive (the point is to introduce local designers to other cities), except as the Chambre Syndicale explained to me once, the Paris Fashion Week visitors are so busy going to the established brands that the little ones get overlooked, and this is an efficient way to introduce them to folks. Fair enough.
As for the Berlin one, it’s just starting, so we’ll see.
None of these are entirely altruistic – designers have to rent their space, or pay to bring themselves and their collection overseas and for their accommodation (or all of the above) – but the trade-off is the councils at least have the muscle to attract retailers and critics at a volume one young designer alone could never manage. And the participants tend to find strength in numbers.
Anyway, I think it’s interesting that it has caught on to such an extent – and that IMG, which owns NY Fashion Week and Berlin Fashion Week, not to mention India Fashion Week and Moscow Fashion Week and lots of other fashion weeks around the world, is not involved.
I mean, just imagine the showroom proliferation if they were! They could set up a veritable United Nations of rails.
It speaks yet again to the increasing rift between those who see fashion week as a trade event, and those who see it as an entertainment event. Now national not-for-profit interest groups are stepping in to fill the gap.
Vanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.