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The fashion calendar

By FashionUnited

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Fashion

New York Fashion Week is well underway and will close on Wednesday. By that time about 328 designers will have held presentations or catwalk shows, a 61 percent increase from five years ago and the largest lineup to date, according to Fashion Calendar.

 You can image the conflict of producing a schedule that has to fit in all these brands in a week of show. There is the core staple of designers, such as Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, DVF and Donna Karan, but also the new breed of designers such as Doo-ri, Alexander Wang and then the new brigade of up-and-coming talent.

The
official on-schedule shows of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week take place at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which hosts 90 shows, including heavyweights Diane von Furstenberg and popular brands like Tibi. Because not all the shows can fit into one venue, many designers opt for Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District, which currently is scheduled to host 40 shows, and of course there are the off-schedule and private venues, such as warehouse spaces, galleries, hotels and some times even car parks.

And then follows London. It may be on a much smaller scale than New York, with just 110 shows and presentations, but buyers will place over £100m-worth of orders, a considerable sum for a week of fashion.

The traditional fashion catwalk show is being questioned this season, with so many designers and brands fighting for a slot on the schedule, many brands are looking to do something unique. Especially in an age where digital culture means every image can be seen on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs around the world. Exclusive runways are no longer so exclusive nor the most practical way of promoting their labels.

"There has been a massive change," photographer Nick Knight, founder of SHOWstudio.com, told the Independent. SHOWstudio. "The public are seeing clothes as they are shown, rather than in magazines three months later. And they want them when they see them."

But while there will always be rebels who shun fashion week, or do something entirely different, like Helmut Lang, Alexander McQueen or even Phoebe Philo now at Celine, the catwalk remains a format that is difficult to replace. Despite the high costs of putting on a show, designers are not about to turn their high heels and backs on the catwalk. But each season will bring something visually new, and London Fashion Week is set to not disappoint.

Image: Celine SS12
Fashion Week