Oscar de la Renta is inviting way fewer people to his show this season–as in, only people who actually have a reason for being there.
The outspoken designer, who recently moved his shows to his modest Midtown studio, is editing down the guest list even further for this coming fashion week. While last season, he staged two shows for 316 people each; this season, he’ll stage only one for 350, WWD‘s Bridget Foley reports.
A few things factored into de la Renta’s decision. For one, the fact that Narciso Rodriguez shows just an hour and a half later. “I hate to inconvenience other people, as I hope other people wouldn’t want to inconvenience me,” he said.
Foley says de la Renta wants to focus on “the comfort of his professional audience.” Those non-professionals will just have to catch the collection online.
Speaking of which, the instantaneous availability of images of the collection online was another reason de la Renta decided to pare down his guest list. That and a general distaste for “megashows.”
“When you do megashows, it loses the reason of why we’re showing,” he said. “It’s important for [certain industry professionals] to look at the clothes and see them. They shouldn’t have to go through 30,000 people, and 10,000 who are trying to take pictures of all of those people who are totally unrelated to the clothes.”
He continued, “I feel [inviting a more targeted audience] is the most manageable way and the most civilized way,” he said. “Why have 20 million people with zero connection to the clothes?”
All we can say is, amen. De la Renta’s not the first to point out that fashion week has become a bit of a circus, but he is one of the first designers to actually do something about it.
We support his decision 100%.
Source: Fashionista