In a want-it-have-it world, the six-month lag between the shows and the shops feels outdated. But are fashion houses ready for a See Now, Buy Now revolution in the way they work?
Two years ago, at a Democratic fundraiser in Seattle, President Obama spoke of “the sense that around the world the old order isn’t holding and we’re not quite yet to where we need to be in terms of a new order that’s based on a different set of principles”. To be clear, he was talking about Ukraine and Syria and Israel, not about fashion week. But as Coco Chanel so wisely remarked, fashion reflects the world we live in, and Obama’s words are as true of the current state of the fashion industry as they are of international relations. In fashion as in politics, the system is outmoded, the establishment is at breaking point, the mood is fractious and unrest is in the air.
This sounds a grandiose starting point from which to debate See Now, Buy Now, the trend to ditch fashion’s six-month lead time and synchronise catwalk shows with store deliveries. But See Now, Buy Now is a crucial tipping point, at which the impact of technology, globalisation and democratisation on the fashion industry is felt not just by buyers in the retail industry sense, but by buyers in the me-and-you-on-a-Saturday-afternoon sense.
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