Can Fashion Shed Its Seasons?

For long, fashion has centred on the concepts of spring/summer and autumn/winter—and, later, cruise and resort. Is it time for a rethink? Is “so last season” still a bad thing?

- Shalini Shah

On May 24, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele took to Instagram to contemplate the way the world did things—and lay out his vision for Gucci—in a post titled Appunti dal Silenzio (‘Notes from the Silence’). Translated into con-crete action, he announced that the brand would be doing away with “the worn-out ritual of seasonalities” and present just two shows a year.

For decades, organised fashion has been built around the concept of seasons. Spring/ summer and autumn/winter, where shows take place in September and March respectively and deliveries happen six months later, have been the pivot on which clothes are made, stores stock up and fashion publications plan their editorials.

Then, in mid-March, the world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to supply chain disruptions, loss of revenue and the threat of surplus inventory. Several smaller fashion labels shut shop. Cumulatively, this has been spurring a rethink on the established way of doing things—notably, the fashion seasons.

How relevant, or not, is the concept of season in fashion now? We asked five industry experts—across fashion publishing, design, sustainability, and retail—to weigh in.

Michael Kors

designer

On brand Michael Kors and seasonless fashion