AMERICAN DESIGNERS OPT FOR SMALLER SHOWS

With just a few months before New York’s F/W09 collections make their debut, designers are already counting on scaling back their shows due to worsening economic conditions. Even many major American designers planning to forgo their usual slots at Bryant Park for smaller-scale shows.  Donna Karan has announced that her DKNY diffusion label would instead be a presentation, rather than a runway show to debut next season’s collection this February, and it seems that more designers are following suit.



Vera Wang, who usually stages her shows at Bryant Park, is instead choosing to show at her Mercer Street store, explaining that,  “The intimacy of a smaller show feels much more appropriate for these times.Once you go off-site, you don’t get any of the benefits that are in tents.  But by the same token, showing in the tents calls for 25 girls, and hair and make-up. It’s an incredible production.”



Even Calvin Klein’s Francisco Costa hinted at the house’s upcoming show being smaller than previous collections, although he insisted that, “With a collection … you want the most creative, the most beautiful, the most well made — we’re not cutting when it comes to that. Maybe the collection will be a little smaller, but it will still be exciting… nothing damaging, but what’s consistent with our reality.”



Betsey Johnson, who has shown in the Bryant Park tents for the previous five seasons, is considering either a presentation or a smaller scale show elsewhere for the showing of her Fall 2009 collection, with a limited guest list of 1,000 people. As well, Carmen Marc Valvo, who has shown in the tents for the past ten years, is contemplating showing at a small cocktail party, with representatives for the designer pointing out that shows can run the label anywhere from $150,000, to $200,000, and that a scaled down show could cut the label’s expenses in half.


Trending


X