There was a debate on “The Irrelevance of Seasons”. It was an interesting debate. It made me think and now I pen down my thoughts on the subject.

As we all know the fashion industry is always changing, as new trends rise and fall through a process known as the fashion cycle.

How are these constant changes brought to consumers? 

Fashion shows organized for autumn, winter, or summer collections throw light on the incoming fashion trend for the next season.

But these Fashion seasons may be perplexing and even intimidating. 

I know it can be confusing, when is summer, when is winter? Where are spring and fall in this mix? 

Officially, fashion is divided into four seasons. These are Spring/Summer (SS), Autumn/Winter (AW), Resort, and Pre-Fall. SS and AW fashion weeks are held in Paris, Milan, New York, and London.

Then in between the winter season, a new season called Resort was added. The name Resort arose because the wealthiest fashion house clientele would purchase these designs on their vacations to sunny parts, and beaches of the world.

Previously, we thought of seasons as periods when the weather changed and imagined that major fashion seasons were about altering what you wore in response to the changing climate: Warmer garments in colder weather, brighter colors in the sun, and more practical designs when it is wet.

It turns out to be significantly more complicated. 

The seasons serve as a global metronome for the worldwide fashion business, defining the speed and time for developing, marketing, and selling new collections.

Surprisingly, SS begins in January and lasts until June, whereas AW lasts from July to December. Resort collections are available from October through December, while Pre-Fall collections are available before the AW collections come.

The confusion arises, of course, since the Summer and Resort collections are marketed in January when it is freezing. It is the same in the winter; winter apparel is sold in July when it is still warm outside.

This is because fashion brands and shops like to launch new fashion lines as soon as possible so that the previous season will be put up for sale.

In a world where worldwide travel has grown more inexpensive, you may visit numerous places in a single year; therefore, should there be greater demand for clothing less reliant on the season? For example, you can observe a sleeveless appearance in AW fashion with bright bursting colors or the subdued look and jackets in SS attire.

The question is the relevance of seasons. 

One argument could be the podium of seasons in fashion can not only be used for displaying clothes but also to reach out common masses. A fashion show event theme can be effectively used to create awareness among common people on any social issue. 

Through fashion shows, designers can pick any cause that they want to send to the public. Big fashion events are covered by leading news media. Media is the best medium to reach the common public. Media telecast the event on their channels and also publish about the event in newspapers. Thus, fashion shows are not all about chic clothes and glamorous models.

Believe it or not, the fashion industry has a great influence on our lives. Though many may not afford designer clothes, still fashion industry has an impact on the lives of many people. All the average-level brands and even small brands follow the fashion trends displayed in the fashion shows. Basically, fashion shows are the mirror image of the look we adorned through their designs, style, and motifs in clothes. From office wear to gym wear and nightwear, every clothing design is influenced by fashion trends adopted and displayed in the fashion shows which take place with the change of seasons. So directly or indirectly, fashion shows affect our lives too.

On the other hand, with so much uncertainty in the world, the occurrences of losing the merchandising calendar for seasonal clothes have become more frequent due to anomalous weather changes and the pandemic. 

We all in the industry are witness to the abnormal weather due to a significant El Niño year (2015–2016) and a weak La Niña year (2017–2018).

The direct and indirect relationships between weather and human activity are observed every day. Much attention is given to weather and climate-sensitive industries, such as agriculture, tourism, food, beverage, construction, transportation, and so on. Numerous scientists have therefore assessed the effects of weather on production and consumption from financial and psychological perspectives. However, the effects of weather on clothing buying behavior have received little attention until now, although everyone refurbishes their closets when the season changes.

The current calendar of fashion shows, orders, and production is a complex mechanism, modeled on the needs of the many parts that make up the industry, who sells, who produces, and who buys. Its main purpose is commercial: to present the collections to buyers, to produce them industrially, and to get them to retailers according to the most structured, efficient, and synchronized schedule possible. The whole process has a very tight pace: industrial production continues throughout the year, as well as design processes and distribution, following a calendar divided into two main and two secondary seasons.

This got disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the crisis in the fashion industry that has taken its back, prompting many designers to criticize the model of seasonality in fashion. 

The collections began to overlap even more when considering the intermediate seasons: Pre-Fall and Resort/Cruise. The overload on the fashion industry was with Resort pre-collections arriving in stores after the Autumn/Winter merchandise has gone on sale but before the Spring/Summer collection has been delivered to retailers. 

Fashion shows got canceled, sales skipped, stores closed… The least that can be said is that the fashion industry has been put through endless hardships in this pandemic year. Never has the world known such events, leaving most pre-existing companies with unprecedented consequences. 

So, given this context, how is the fashion world going to face the unavoidable changes ahead? Will seasons still be relevant in the future?

Thus, the concept of Seasonless Fashion was coined. 

Imagine if you have to create 30-100 new designs every 3 months or less, how much time and energy can you put into each one? Having seasonless collections allows designers to fully work through and test new styles.

It also means designers can create pieces that work with their existing and best-selling styles. Instead of coming up with a totally new collection, designers can focus on augmenting the existing collection – maybe a new bottom that works with the popular tops or a layering piece to go with the best-selling dresses. Brands can work on creating a more versatile and functional collection instead of trying to sell a whole new set of clothes every season.

Another huge benefit is that factories can have consistent, paced production. Currently, factories often have incredibly busy times with lots of pressure and overtime to get all the garments ready for the season, and then quieter periods before the next season’s production ramps up. Manufacturing outside of this seasonal roller-coaster would not only be less stressful for workers but also provide more continuous, stable employment since currently some factories just hire temporary staff for the busy times.

It also gives brands the ability to work with artisans and craftspeople. Using traditional techniques like ikat dyeing, block-printing, and hand-weaving takes more time than fast fashion’s quick turnaround can allow. Unfortunately, we are losing a lot of these beautiful textile arts and cultural methods with current industry demands. Slowing down fashion and allowing longer production cycles means extending support and sharing handmade, artisan textiles – making their pieces unique and imbued with a rich history of textile craft.

A seasonless collection gives consumers more time to think about purchases. 

If a style is only available for a short time, you tend to feel as though you have to buy it immediately which can result in impulse purchases that might rarely get worn. Having time to think about getting a piece means customers can make sure it’s a good investment for their wardrobe without the pressure that it might disappear soon.

With a seasonless collection, brands do not have deadlines to get rid of products and do not create overstock waste. They can offer discounts if they choose or to show appreciation for their customers, not because they have to get rid of out-of-season clothes.

Seasonless fashion can become a bigger part of the trend, in making seasonless styles. In a world where we spend time in artificially cold or warm environments thanks to air conditioning and central heating, the demarcations between the seasons are not as clear as they once were. Add the wash-out summers and warmer winters created by climate change, plus the growing global market for high fashion, and the blurring makes even more sense. It may be around 7C in London, but in Mumbai, it's 34C and humid.

So, could this spell the end of the seasonal fashion show? Probably not – but its function will evolve. Instead of selling clothes, the catwalk is now all about exposure. 

The show is about the brand image and the pre-collections are about keeping that momentum.

On the other hand, the traditionalists consider seasonless fashion sinful, it seems fair to us that we have had to shift to a season-neutral manner of dressing since Fashion Week’s inception a century ago.

RELATED TOPICS:#Apparel,Sanjay Lal