More than a hundred handfuls of things are uncertain at the moment across industries and especially so in fashion. Once the dust has settled, if it ever does, we’ll realize things like Paris Fashion Week and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows may never quite be the same.
The latter isn’t quite the novelty considering they’ve been on a path to self-destruction for quite some time now, and the former pains me deeply as I skipped out on what would have been my first last year.
That being said, the concept of fashion shows as a whole is not dead. Similarly to the music and film industries, fashion is going virtual. On Friday, May 1, CR Fashion Book and the Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR) will join forces for a fashion show called Fashion Unites.
The show will be produced by Carine Roitfeld of CR Fashion Book and Harper’s Bazaar. She reportedly had consultations with the models that will make an appearance to pick out their ‘fits and provide direction. Meanwhile, Sam McKnight and Tom PecheuxRoitfeld (hair and makeup artists respectively) gave the models and celebrities some direction as well. Roitfeld reportedly helped amFAR raise millions of dollars for AIDS research in the past. The amFAR Fund to Fight COVID-19 was recently created in an “all-out effort to develop effective treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus.”
Rather than having fashion heavyweights meet on a runway IRL, the show will be self-filmed and pre-recorded.
Several Latinas—including Joan Smalls, Adriana Lima and Isabeli Fontana— are slated to participate. The show is the first of its kind and will likely set a precedent for how to shift processes and strategy during this time.
You can catch the show on YouTube (their head of fashion, Derek Blasberg, is hosting the show, in fact) on May 1 at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.