Haider Ackermann going co-ed for runway

Haider Ackermann is the latest designer to announce he will be going coed for Fashion Week, which means Paris Mens Fashion Week has lost another one of its top designers. Ackermann, who recently departed from Berluti as creative director, will be showing his men's and women's spring 2019 collection together at Paris Fashion Week in September.

“This decision reflects a desire to stage a new balance between the two collections by breaking with codes and re-creating magic with the interaction of two different identities,” Michèle Montagne, his public relations director, said in a statement on Friday.

The coed format appears to be all the rage in fashion right now. Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Givenchy have all switched to coed formats. Etro, Missoni, Jil Sander, Dsquared2, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Kenzo, Moschino, Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford and Cédric Charlier have all been doing coed, some for several seasons or more. Emporio Armani also recently announced that they would be going coed starting next season as well.

As gender lines become increasingly more blurred in fashion, the idea of men's and women's is being heavily diluted, so brands no longer see a reason to bother separating the two. Also, having two shows per year helps reduce costs for staging runway shows which can often run up to 30,000 dollars at bare minimum.

photo: via Haiderackermann.com