Why do our editors and retailers insist on making comparisons between European fashion weeks and New York Fashion Week? I hear things like, ‘We have to look to Europe for innovation and excitement,’ ‘Why is this on the runway? It should be on hangers in a showroom,’ ‘Our expectations are so low for NYFW,’ ‘We should eliminate NYFW and let them all show in Paris.’
Hasn’t the world recognized the difference between us and them yet? We are entrepreneurs. We are more often than not underfunded. We are independents. We are scramblers and street fighters. We are on shoestring budgets. Corporate support is hard to acquire and limited at best. Sponsorships are a struggle to obtain. And yet we give birth to what Europe adopts and exploits! All the time. Grunge, street, boho, tie-dye, hip-hop and denim for God sakes! And even as far back as we can recall, flappers, big shoulders, Hollywood glamour. Scarlett O’Hara wore a dress made out of curtains! Global decades are defined by our style — American style.
