The Fall 2017 iteration of New York Fashion Week begins Wednesday, February 8 and runs until Thursday, February 16. Roughly 150 fashion labels — big and small — will strut their stuff. However, there will be quite a few marked absences. Blame designers disdain for the stifling fashion calendar, Paris Fashion Week’s elitist allure or Los Angeles’ (seemingly) perpetually sunny skies, but a host of designers are defecting from the Big Apple. (The term “exodus” has been thrown around.) How’s CFDA president and chief executive officer Steven Kolb handling the changes? “If the demand for an organized New York Fashion Week diminishes and isn’t important anymore, it will go away by itself,” Kolb told WWD (though he also affirmed he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon). Scroll down for the complete list of traitors relocators.
Proenza Schouler
OK, so it’s not skipping town just yet, but February 13 will mark Proenza’s final (at least for the time being) New York show. Henceforth, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez will be moving their runway to Paris, merging their main and pre-collections and only showing twice a year. Their first Paris-based runway will take place in July, so as to align with Paris Haute Couture week. Of the current state of NYFW, Hernandez observed, “It definitely has changed a lot since we first started showing. There are still superinteresting people showing in New York, but there’s a lot of things that we’re not that interested in in New York.”
Rodarte
Kate and Laura Mulleavy are also City of Lights-bound. Rodarte will no longer show at New York Fashion Week. Instead, the brand will hold a private Fall 2017 presentation this March (coinciding with Paris Fashion Week). Going forward, the Mulleavys will eschew the traditional fashion calendar format. Like Proenza Schouler, Rodarte’s future runway shows will coincide with Paris Haute Couture week in January and July. The Mulleavy sisters will also be adding a third collection to their yearly production calendar — details TBD.
Hood By Air
Shayne Oliver and his underground club kid, art-world and A-list posse are also crossing the Atlantic. Whatever surreal double-facing footwear Oliver’s dreamed up for Fall 2017, it’ll walk in Paris.
Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger and Gigi Hadid will fête their sophomore collection with a Venice Beach, Los Angeles-based see-now-buy-now presentation-slash-party. The oceanside runway show will take place on February 8 and will showcase Hilfiger’s women’s sportswear collection as well as Tommy x Gigi part deux — which is already available for your viewing pleasure.
Rebecca Minkoff
Minkoff will hold a California-themed “runway-to-retail experience” on February 4 at Los Angeles hotspot the Grove. At sundown, the center’s trolley tracks will transform into a runway for a mix of New York and Los Angeles-based models.
Rachel Comey
Rachel Comey will hold her customary fashion dinner-cum-presentation in Los Angeles this February. The site? Downtown gallery Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The caterer? On-site restaurant Manuela. The date? February 7.
Rachel Zoe
Fashion’s other leading Rachel has also ditched New York for L.A. Her February 1 Fall 2017 presentation will also have some see-now-buy-now mixed in. The queen of boho-glam plans to continue to show in Los Angeles “for a minute.”
Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon presented their Spring 2017 wares via a protest-spirited, Justin Peck-choreographed ballet entitled The Times are Racing. The brand’s see-now-buy-now performance took place at Lincoln Center on January 28. Among the hip fashion crowd were Solange Knowles and St. Vincent (natch).
Vera Wang Spring 2017 finale; Image: Imaxtree
Vera Wang
Vera Wang will display her Fall 2017 collection by way of a short fashion film, hitting the interwebs February 28. That same day, Wang will be honored as a Chevalier of France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor. To show her appreciation, Wang’s Fall 2017 film will be “a bit of an ode to Paris.”
DKNY
Given recent shake-ups at its corporate headquarters, for the Fall 2017 season, DKNY is laying low and hosting private appointments in its showroom in lieu of a runway show. On the bright side, Public School founders and erstwhile DKNY creative directors Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow are “taking back” their slot on the official New York Fashion Week calendar. The Public School presentation will take place February 12 at 11:00 a.m. local time.
Band Of Outsiders
Band Of Outsiders is back (yet again), but brand director Daniel Hettmann, designer Angelo Van Mol and the rest of the team won’t be bothering with a Fall 2017 runway presentation. We assume this has something to do with the fact that the brand’s Spring 2017 presentation — under the old guard — was a total flop. In any case, Band’s new band will hold private appointments during New York Fashion Week.
Tom Ford
In the olden days, Tom Ford would present his see-now-buy-now collections to NYFW crowds filled with his top celebrity clients. Now it’s a Los Angeles-based affair. Ford is keeping the details of his upcoming presentation close to the undone-to-the-navel vest, although rumor has it the festivities will align with the Oscars. (In February 2015, the Nocturnal Animals director held a fashion show at Milk Studios on the eve of the awards ceremony.)
