Dear Friends,
As we approach the first fully in-person New York Fashion Week in nearly two years, the health and safety of all fashion week stakeholders is paramount – now more than ever with the ongoing health risks presented by COVID-19 and its variants.
Working hand in hand with IMG, the CFDA offers the following guidelines to make sure this New York Fashion Week provides a safe environment for everyone involved, from designers and show producers to models and front-house staff and guests.
To that end, in accordance with CDC and City guidelines we mandate the proof of full-course COVID-19 vaccination consistent with state and federal law, and strongly encourage the following:
- Mask wearing indoors at all times, except in designated eating and drinking areas or when models are walking the runway.
- Reduced guest capacity in all show venues.
For specific detail, please read head producer at IMG and FOCUS. Dominic Kaffka’s Industry Insights on CFDA.com. With his team, Kaffka worked with New York State to develop a return-to-live events plan that would ultimately be upheld and adopted as the standard of safe production across New York industries. He has also led the charge on developing IMG’s Health & Safety Training Manual, which will empower all designers and fashion talent to get back to work safely this coming season.
We are also proud to partner with New York-based CLEAR, which has generously donated access to its Health Pass technology to all CFDA member designers. Health Pass is a mobile experience on the free CLEAR app that connects verified identity to COVID-19 vaccinations – helping create a safer New York Fashion Week for models, designers, staff, and the entire community. With this donation and partnership, CLEAR is helping us safely bring back New York Fashion Week, and we encourage you to leverage this easy and secure technology for the shows.
We also strongly recommend that you review the CFDA’s Initiative for Health, Safety, and Diversity with further guidelines specific to protecting the wellbeing of models.
In addition to health and safety standards, New York Fashion Week must reflect the diversity of the global fashion industry on the runway and across all staffing for the shows. If you are looking to hire freelance staff, please email us at Impact@CFDA.com.
– Steven Kolb
