OK Fine, Let's Talk About Fashion Month ... Again

The good, the bad, and the really bad.

There are just a few more days left of fashion month. The designers from around the world showed their collections in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Now it's time we break down the good, the bad, and the really bad.

The good:

I like to start on a good note, and honestly, there was plenty of them. This season, many young designers rethought the traditional fashion show and used the week to highlight their brands through more than just clothing. Henry Zankov, who I recently profiled for InStyle (read it here), staged a show of his colorful, low-production knits on a rainy sidewalk, where models ran around and danced. It was a bit of levity during a week that's far too serious for what little substance we often get.

There was also The Row. Sorry, I'm always going to go there for my girls Mary Kate and Ashley. The Olsen sisters understand chicness and timelessness in a way that is lost in so many other collections. When I see their clothing, I see pieces that you could have in your closet forever, no matter the season or the current trends.

The bad:

Speaking of trends, I was disappointed by how many designers were regurgitating the same popular styles. Some brands could have swapped pieces for one another because the collections looked so similar. It makes me wonder why they must put so much down the runway.

The really bad:

Kourtney Kardashian showed her Boohoo collection during New York Fashion Week. Besides the obvious question – why does Boohoo need a fashion show? – we didn't get any recognition of the apparent issues with her sustainability claims. As I mentioned in this story, even with an upcycled collection Boohoo is not sustainable. Making those claims before slowing down production and changing the supply chain to prioritize workers is greenwashing. People pointed that out, and the response was a fashion show.

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Thank you for reading!!

This Stuff is a newsletter by me! fashion journalist, Alyssa Hardy. Three times a week, I unpack the ways our clothes impact the world through news, essays, interviews and more. Subscribe for free here and follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

You can order my book "Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion's Sins" here.