Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors among some to skip NY Fashion Week

For the 70-odd designers offering so-called “digital activations,” at New York Fashion Week 2020, there is a new platform from  Council of Fashion Designers of America, Runway 360, where people can watch the shows and designers can connect in various ways with buyers and consumers — what Steven Kolb, chief executive of CFDA, describes as a modern version of the old tents in Manhattan where the industry once gathered during Fashion Week.

The “week” kicks off Sunday evening with Wu’s show and with a virtual gala from Harlem’s Fashion Row, which is holding its 13th annual Style Awards. The next day, there’s a version of the annual CFDA Awards — usually presented with fanfare at a glitzy June gala, but canceled this year. The winners will be announced by video.

A number of top designers, though, have opted out entirely. Among them is Marc Jacobs, the great showman of the industry, who traditionally closes out Fashion Week with his wildly creative runway shows.

“To be honest, I don’t know what we’ll be doing or when we’ll be starting, but to design a collection I need my team,” Jacobs explained at a Vogue event in April. “And my team needs to look at fabrics. And those fabrics come from Italy. And we travel, and there’s a lot of things that go on. Until we discover a new way to work ... or a new end goal to work towards, we really have nothing to do.”

Other major labels not participating: Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung, Proenza Schouler, Tory Burch. Many have decided to show later in the year, or in a different format.

Designer Anna Sui will be presenting a video of her new spring collection, partly inspired by a documentary she saw on the French female Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot, and by a variety of influences Sui was thinking about during those long stretches of time at home — including beautiful home-baked pies.

Sui says at first, she couldn’t even imagine putting together a collection, given what was happening in the world and its ripple effect on the industry.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the designer said in an interview. “I’ve been in business a really long time, through 9/11 and then [the financial crisis of] 2008. But this is really, really seismic. It’s kind of broken our whole system.”

“We’re just all wondering, who IS going to be buying?” she added. “Who is going to be wanting new merchandise? And will we ever see orders like we used to? Not only have the stores changed, but the consumer has changed.”

Like everyone, Sui was caught totally off guard when the world essentially shut down in March. Her company had orders to fill and struggled to even complete them; most of the orders were either refused or canceled or buyers asked for a huge discount.

“And I thought, well, how can you continue?” she said. “I couldn’t bring my team back.”

But then, she said, she started thinking about fabrics, and watching a lot of movies.

“So I kind of did it in my head for a while. And then I would sneak into the office and start working on it. And I put together a story. And that’s what my spring collection is, is all those influences that were going on during that period of being at home for so long.”-AP