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It’s New York Fashion Week! And you know what that means: your feeds are likely already clogged with bookmark-worthy outfits, many of which won’t even be on an actual runway. Allow us to add a few more.
You may have heard whispers about how the industry is “broken,” and how the fact that our sixth-month-ahead system (i.e. showing winter clothes when it’s about to be spring and spring clothes when it’s about to be winter) seems somewhat nonsensical given the immediacy of everything else these days. There are definitely counterarguments to this theory, though, including the valid case that brilliant designers put forth new and complex trends that require at least six months of digestion, not to mention the very real retail business cycle. However, that we are a generation of dressers driven by the impulse of immediate satisfaction is undeniable, and the see-now-buy-now-model, while more popular than it used to be, is by no means the norm. So where does that impulse factor in?
Street style.
If the fashion industry is indeed fissured, I would posit that street style is the glue that holds it together. It provides the ahhhhh! feeling of immediate satisfaction that runway shows, though beautiful to look at, might not. It is a bridge from one season to the next, and a window into what people are wearing or want to wear now — not six months in the future. It’s an encyclopedia of trends and idea plucked straight from actual wardrobes.
Written by Harling Ross
Harling is the Fashion Editor at Man Repeller.
Photos by Simon Chetrit; follow him on Instagram @simonzchetrit.
