The rise of influencers at NYFW

As we all know, New York fashion week was a few weeks ago. And if you were following along with the events, you probably know the streets of New York were filled with influencers. Creators attending fashion week events didn’t have to be a bad thing inherently, but let me tell you why, from my perspective, it is. You would expect the main focus of a fashion week to be, of course, fashion. But when the majority of people in attendance are making their living by creating a fear of missing out, the focus begins to distort from “Look at these gorgeous pieces!” to “What can I use as content?” 

I don’t know about anyone else, but my for you page was a constant stream of NYFW-related TikTok’s, yet almost none of them were about the collections themselves. Instead, they were all about who was in attendance. What does this mean for fashion week? If this continues, we quite frankly have no definitive answer to what this would do. Could this be the fall of runways and creative fashion? 

Fashion week has already devolved into one big photo-op game: “who can make their followers think they had the most fun!” Brands want their clothes to be in the spotlight, so I don’t see it as a far-off idea that they might indulge in this game. If no one wants to pay attention to the runway, why not put the pieces on the influencers? 

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Guests in the front row of shows usually wear clothes from their collection already.” But I’m thinking more along the lines of in placement of fashion shows; they host social events where guests are all dressed in the collection. As a result, the clothes are still present in every influencer photo shoot. Although this is a wise business decision, it is also a step back in creativity. It would no longer be about creating the most innovative new runway items but rather about producing things that look good on Instagram. I’d prefer to see events like this alongside fashion shows rather than in place of them. 

All in all, none of us truly know how fashion week will look in 10 years. Let us all hope that the rise of influencers at NYFW isn’t the fall of creative fashion