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From Runway to Retail: How the Catwalk is Translated to Your Closet

Photo Credit: Monique Lhuillier via Instagram

We love fashion for fashion’s sake. Avant garde designs, exotic textiles and embellishments, and over-the-top structure all catches our eye and sparks our imagination. Which is great on the runway, but not so stellar once it finally reaches our closet. Somewhere between runway and retail, designers have to find what will work, what won’t and how they can translate the creativity and drama of the catwalk into a palpable, wearable collection. The line may need small changes or an entire overhaul, but almost nothing goes directly from the runway to the rack.

 

A photo posted by Marc Jacobs (@marcjacobs) on

Fashion Week can seem like a fashionable free-for-all with all of its Instagramable street-style and celebrity-filled front rows. But it’s actually a trade show where editors, buyers and insiders identify upcoming trends and decide what will eventually be made available to consumers. This is especially true for buyers that scour the looks at the event’s over 200 presentations to decide what they’ll be stocking for the coming season. While the extravagant shows are what make the event so popular, most of the purchasing and deals are made during private appointments in designers’ showrooms. Here the buyers decide on, and eventually help redesign, the pieces that will make it to your closet.

The ready-to-wear collections that go down the runway are only the initial concept designs, created specifically for the thin, statuesque models that walk the runway. To be shoppable, they need to be altered to fit average-sized customers, which means increasing measurements around the bust line and hips, and shortening the sleeves, inseam and torso. Even shoes, which may be dangerously tall for a runway show, will have an inch or so removed before production, or come in a low-heel option to be worn in a more practical setting. “I make an effort to stay true to what walks down the runway, so my customers have access to what they see,” designer Monique Lhuillier told Footwear News. “From the beginning of the design process, I have the final product in mind. What ends up in stores is very similar, if not exactly what is in the show. [However], I am very open to compromising with my retailers. If a buyer is looking for a style in a different material or colorway, I work with them to produce a shoe that is in line with my vision but that also fulfills the retailer’s requirements.”

 

A photo posted by BCBGMAXAZRIA (@bcbgmaxazria) on

Few pieces require subtle changes, most are given dramatic alterations in an attempt to create a more profitable piece for a larger audience. Specifically, designers will rework individual pieces at the request of major buyers to make them more appropriate for their clientele. This can mean taking off a few embellishments for a more practical look, redesigning the item with a less expensive fabric for a more realistic price point or taking a plunging neckline up (or a bum-skimming hemline down) for a more modest cut. “You don’t want to alienate your customer by not allowing them to buy something they have seen on the runway,” designer Carmen Marc Valvo told the publication. “We work out all the kinks and we end up with a beautiful product for the runway that hopefully is newsworthy but [can translate into] a similar look for the consumer to buy.”

 

A photo posted by BCBGMAXAZRIA (@bcbgmaxazria) on

Even knowing changes will need to be made, designers opt for more dramatic looks on the runway to establish their aesthetic and covey their vision to the media and potential shoppers. “When you do a runway show, you have 10 minutes to showcase [the season’s looks], so you have to have a very focused message,” Lubov Azria, chief creative officer of BCBG Max Azria Group, told the online magazine. “When we present the line after runway, it is definitely a larger collection. We will have lower heels, higher heels and a balance of price points.” Retailers and designers depend on the more dynamic pieces to bring customers into the store and pique their interest. “People might not buy it, but they will walk into the store [because of it]. They will end up buying a basic, but they have to be wowed first. The ‘wow’ shoes are very important, whether or not they sell. It’s so important to get women inspired.”

While buyers work closely with labels' creative teams to alter the look or practicality of each piece, they are in no way attempting to change the feel or sartorial direction of the design. "We are not trend-setting, no," Stephanie Solomon, former VP of fashion direction at Bloomingdale’s told NY Daily News. "Buyers buy the trends. To maintain our motto of being ‘like no other store in the world,' we have to know what's next." This means watching what trends are being picked up by the fashion elite and understanding which pieces will translate into sales and be adopted by the masses. “I tell the buyers to pay close attention to what I call the fashion tribe, the attendees at fashion shows. We're watching what they're wearing because we're seeing what trends have already been picked up," she added.

 

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In the rare event that a collection isn’t picked up by a retailer, their work is still influencing the fashion space through their silhouettes, cuts, colors, textures or any number of factors that make up the trends at Fashion Week. Original runway pieces, though not sold in retail, are often used for campaign imagery, trunk shows, editorial shoots and loaned out to celebrities and influencers for events before being retired to a designer’s archive. In rare instances, these runway pieces can be ordered directly from designers or brands for those closely connected with the label, but for most shoppers, buyers will be deciding what you’ll wear this coming season.

Marissa Stempien

Marissa Stempien is a freelance writer and editor with a focus on travel, fashion, lifestyle, and culture. Her work has been featured in a number of print and online publications including ABC News, Popsugar, Huffington Post, JustLuxe, Luxury Living and CityGirlGoneMom. Marissa is an avid traveler and is always looking to visit somewhere new or unexplored. Her unique lifestyle has given way to her...(Read More)

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