Giorgio Armani is as outspoken as he is powerful. Here, he argues that, to maximize their impact, the fashion shows should be timed to the retail selling period. The effort, he says, would require broad collaboration “without the pretense that it will happen in six months.”
What is your take on the current timing of the shows?
I raised the question a few days before the Milan shows. It’s been a while now that retailers concentrate their orders on pre-collections, reserving the final touch of freshness to the trendier part of the collection. So the question I pose is whether or not it makes sense to put on the runway a collection of which 80 percent has already been bought, but that will arrive in the stores six months later?
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How difficult would it be to change?
The problems in changing are multiple because it would mean playing havoc with an entire system that was formed over the years, and that includes increasingly earlier delivery dates, to the point of having winter clothes in the windows at the end of June.
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How could the long-lead press adapt to a schedule shift?
For daily newspapers and TV, the show dates don’t make a big difference because their timing would allow their readers to see the collections a few days before they [hit the sales floor], maybe upping the interest in clothes that will soon be in the stores.
For monthly magazines, the process would be complicated. They would need to completely revise their timing. I think it would be possible to change things with the collaboration of everyone. The sector needs to face these issues. Since today many fashion houses own both their production facilities and their stores, I think it’s possible to do in the less traumatic manner and without the pretense that it will happen in six months.