Fashion × PR Industry Enters the “New Normal” Era!? Introducing the Spring/Summer 2021 Fashion Weeks Held During the Pandemic!

Hello, everyone. This blog post is brought to you by the Steady Study team.

Steady Study is a PR company that joined SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP in March 2020. As a pioneer of “Attaché de Presse” (PR and communications professionals specializing in the fashion industry) in Japan, the company has strong expertise in brand building for fashion and lifestyle brands. You can read more about the company here.

The fashion industry has also seen numerous new initiatives due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these, this year’s autumn Fashion Weeks were held in completely new ways never seen before, so today we would like to introduce what took place!

■ How to Convey a Brand’s World When International Travel Is Difficult

In the fashion world, “new collections” are presented more than six months before we actually see them in stores.

Normally, twice a year during periods called “Fashion Weeks,” various brands present their new collections for the next season through runway shows and exhibitions in New York, London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities. For womenswear, the autumn/winter collection for the following year is presented in February, and the spring/summer collection for the following year is presented in September. During Fashion Week, fashion media professionals, buyers, and influencers from Japan and around the world visit these locations to obtain the latest information for the next season and to make purchases.

However, this autumn, with concerns about the spread of COVID-19, there were almost no fashion professionals traveling to these locations for the spring/summer 2021 Fashion Weeks. As a result, each brand devised creative ways to allow people to experience new collections without traveling to the venues, presenting them in a “new style aligned with the new normal” that differed from previous approaches.

When fashion brands present new collections, they have previously used digital environments to live-stream runway shows held in empty venues, distribute image videos, and share look images of models wearing collection pieces. However, this season during the pandemic, various ideas were implemented at Fashion Weeks in each city, including presentations that could only be expressed digitally and combinations of digital and physical presentations.

WWD JAPAN, a fashion and beauty industry publication, also featured a special report on the digitalization of Fashion Week as part of its collection coverage.

WWD JAPAN October 12 Issue Cover

■ “New Normal” Expression Methods by Each Brand Using Digital and Physical Approaches

In New York, rag & bone presented a short film created in collaboration with Microsoft. Set in an imaginary New York, avatars wearing items from the new collection appeared. The movements of the avatars and fabric details were transformed into virtual representations, expressing diversity in a virtual manner.

The rag & bone Spring/Summer 2021 collection short film can be viewed here.

In Milan, shoe brand Sergio Rossi presented a short film for a new collection paying homage to founder Sergio Rossi, who passed away in 2020, on its official website for a limited time.

From the Sergio Rossi Spring/Summer 2021 Collection

EMILIO PUCCI released a short film fully expressing the world of its Spring/Summer 2021 collection. The short film also featured a capsule collection with Japanese designer TOMO KOIZUMI as guest designer. The colorful and dreamy capsule collection, inspired by colors from archive prints, was also highly acclaimed at an installation held in Milan, with numerous social media posts from Milan and European fashion professionals who visited.

From EMILIO PUCCI Spring/Summer 2021 Collection Short Film ‘Sulla Riva’

EMILIO PUCCI Spring/Summer Capsule Collection Exhibition

During Paris Fashion Week, Norwegian brand TOMWOOD digitally presented its Spring/Summer 2021 collection with new designer Mattia Van Severen. The collection featured approximately 10 items each for menswear and womenswear, with all textiles being either upcycled or sustainable. As a “meaningful brand” in an era overflowing with products, this collection was characteristic of a brand from Norway, a leader in sustainability. After presenting look images on the brand’s official Instagram and website, a thick, large lookbook filled with the brand’s world was delivered to industry professionals.

From TOMWOOD Spring/Summer 2021 Collection Photo credit: Calle Huth

TOMWOOD Spring/Summer 2021 Collection Lookbook

■ Wine and Life-Size Model Posters… Creative Invitations from Each Brand!

While the main presentation venue this season was in the digital environment, invitation cards were often sent from each brand to announce the timing of digital presentations, just as during regular collection weeks. To heighten anticipation for collection presentations available for a limited time only, each brand sent items expressing their brand’s world to industry professionals and influencers. Some brands used items representing the collection’s inspiration source as invitation cards, some sent wine to enjoy while viewing the collection, and one brand even prepared a press kit containing a life-size poster of a model printed in a box the size of a tatami mat!

Unable to present in physical venues, each brand has devised various creative approaches to express their collections.

The fashion industry has been said to lag behind other industries in digital adoption. While this unprecedented situation served as a major catalyst, the industry is now rapidly advancing toward digitalization as it moves into a new phase.

In relation to this, Steady Study launched the digital showroom system “ENCHANCE” in early July 2020, enabling brand PR operations previously conducted offline to be handled online.

This system makes it possible to conduct all brand PR operations online, including sample product display and management, loan request handling, and reporting, which were previously done offline. This service is expected to be utilized during the pandemic, when non-contact communication is required. For more details, please visit here.

We will continue to share information about the fashion × PR industry, so please stay tuned!

See you in the next blog post!