2020 presented a plethora of business challenges. For the first time in New York, fashion week did not have a typical physical footprint, in order to prevent the spread of an airborne virus. Designers were faced with reimagining a legacy model for showing new collections to the industry that has long preceded their time.

But our American designers heeded the call, and the September 2020 shows presented solutions.

People craved human interaction (albeit socially distanced) and in-person runway shows took different, but somewhat familiar forms – upstate with Christian Siriano, on a rooftop with Jason Wu, on a small New York City island with Ulla Johnson, and at the foot of the East River with Eckhaus Latta.

Some leveraged digital tools, creating small films like Carolina Herrera, Wolk Morais, Oak & Acorn, PH5, Who Decides War and Kenneth Nicholson. Others welcomed us to their virtual reality worlds like Colleen Allen and Kozaburo.

With the good news of the vaccine’s arrival, it’s only normal that our industry begs the question: what’s the future of fashion week?

We’ve seen incredible innovation, and we expect that some of the solutions designers came up with will follow them into the new year when we can all gather again safely.

The point, however, is not to go back to “normal” – we’re looking to be better. Revamped, refreshed, and we’re excited for what’s ahead.