Fashion Week from Home

For the first time in six years (in fact, twice a year, so 12 fashion seasons. It’s kind of like “dog years,” one fashion year = 2 years), I am sitting in my kitchen watching a live broadcast of the fashion show of the company for which I formerly worked. I’m usually cruising in to the show after being at the studio late the night before, or even coming straight from the studio knowing which looks and which fabrics will be showcased on the runway. It’s quite exciting to once again be a fashion spectator. I’m hoping that just observing without participating can help revive my affection for fashion that has been lying dormant in the aftermath of my extreme burnout.

A few designers that have PR departments clued into the modern world have begun live-streaming their fashion shows. It’s really amazing to me what a perfect example of our newly Populist world this is. Without being in the room, we can see the time leading up to the show. We can see the set up, and we can see PR folks working their asses off making sure that all the VIPs are in the correct front-row seats, next to the correct A-listers.

I love that everything is becoming demystified. There are whole TV channels dedicated to fixing up your house yourself and cooking gourmet meals without any formal training at the Cordon Bleu. There are shows about fashion PR, celebrity lifestyles, and fashion design. These industries exist on an ivory tower where the public never knows what goes on behind closed doors. But these Populist television programs and live webcasts allow some teenager in Alabama to experience a little bit of an exclusive world that takes years, tears, and if not blood certainly bruises to infiltrate.

I have a couple of gripes about reality TV, but the demystification of industries that exist almost entirely on ivory towers is not one of those complaints.