So you want to see a NYFW show? You may not know anyone in the biz or have connections to the Kardashian-West clan, but no matter. Riccardo Tisci just announced that this year, the Givenchy Spring/Summer 2016 runway show will be open to the public. Yeah, this is pretty major. During the S/S 2016 show on September 11, 1200 “real people” will be sitting alongside celebrities, editors, bloggers and industry insiders. Most of the tickets will be available on a first come, first serve basis on Givenchy starting September 2 at 10 a.m. EST. Other tickets will be on reserve for students of FIT, Parsons, Pratt Institute and the High School for Fashion Industries, and another set will be made available to residents living in the undisclosed venue’s neighborhood.
Of course it’s not the first time the brand has toyed with the idea of bringing the public into what are generally considered very exclusive shows. At their men’s Paris show in June, they released the name of their venue early so as to create a buzz, and a large crowd gathered in support. Givenchy’s CEO, Philippe Fortunato, called this “a form of a rehearsal” saying they “wanted to see how the public would behave in a fashion environment.” And if their new public offering is reflective of that day’s experiment, it seemed they performed admirably.
And while all of this is very exciting, especially for those who have tried year-after-year to sneak get into a runway show, it begs the question: what kind of long-term impact could this have on the way Fashion Week is run? Right now blogs are filled with street style shots, Instagram clips show models parading down the runway and shows are immediately sent to our laptops and phones via livestream, but just a few years ago it was completely different. Having a blogger sit front row would have been unheard of. Now we expect those front row updates from our favorite Instagrammers. While we’re not holding our breath for every brand to start a public offering, this could very well be early signs of Fashion Week’s next evolution.
