Can Los Angeles improve its fashion week?

Los Angeles - Internationally, Fashion Week is always a long-anticipated event that most people wait all year for. Fashion Week sets the tone for each city by introducing new designer collections to potential buyers and industry insiders. For most cities, the runway week of events is on a set schedule from a familiar venue that typically runs on the same dates every season. However, Los Angeles Fashion Week is different in that there are multiple venues and “fashion weeks” for locals.

Instead of one universal five-day period where shows and designers are announced, Los Angeles has various productions of its fashion week throughout a two to three week period. For instance, this year, Los Angeles had four distinct versions of fashion weeks with different designers at each one: Los Angeles Fashion Week, Art Hearts Fashion Week, Style Fashion Week, and Fashion Week Los Angeles (FWLA). All of these weeks went on throughout the month of October in various dates, some that were conflicting with one another as well.

Los Angeles Fashion Week went on from September 28 through October 1, with continuous events afterwards. Art Hearts Fashion Week was scheduled from October 8-14 in Beverly Hills. Style Fashion Week was held at the Pacific Design Center from October 12-16. FWLA went on in downtown Los Angeles from October 15-19.

Having all of these different venues and fashion events makes it difficult to follow along for anyone in the industry. Whereas in New York or Milan there is typically one prominent fashion week that is agreed upon as the city’s official fashion week; Los Angeles struggles to find that balance. With these diverse weeks, it’s confusing for industry professionals as well as locals who are seeking to find the “real” fashion week. Due to the nature of the conflicting schedules, it can be a daunting choice to figure out which show is more important to go to.

Los Angeles Fashion Week needs more organization and structure

Los Angeles can improve its fashion week dramatically by minimizing its “fashion weeks” down to one. All of the other major cities in which fashion weeks are present (New York, Paris, Milan, and London) create an environment in which their event is the must-go-to fashion show of the season. Because there is only one week, it’s a lot easier for people in the industry to clear their schedules and prepare for the fashion week; as opposed to scheduling for three diverse weeks of shows.

Creating a more all-encompassing fashion week for Los Angeles could be its next step to officially becoming a fashion capital. As the city’s already done well in manufacturing and is the leading capital of denim, resculpting its fashion week could be the key to giving Los Angeles the prominent and praise it deserves in fashion. In the future, hopefully Los Angeles will be able to come together to form better ways to show of its fashion in a more concise, prestigious way.

Photo: FashionUnited