“Pre-Fall Is Happening. Did You Notice?”

No. You didn’t. I mean, I don’t know, maybe you did, maybe you are like me circa 2011: consumed by slideshows, desperately seeking images of the most recent runway shows, but in my experience a few years of actually working in fashion will wrench that impulse right out of you.

Vanessa Friedman writes that most consumers “could be forgiven for failing to notice” pre-fall had even started, a sentiment I generously agree with, but that maybe it’s not for the reasons we would hope (sanity, common decency). She explains:

Well, though some over-worked fashion people (mea culpa) saw this as a potentially positive sign that, perhaps, the relentless drive toward more-shows-all-the-time was slowing, a boon to designers and consumers, the houses have a slightly more prosaic explanation: it’s timing.

Pre-spring falls in June, a slow(er) time for most brands than December, when they not only have holiday sales/events/vacation to contend with, but also men’s wear, which shows in January, women’s wear (February), and, perhaps, couture (January). This is one of the reasons it is a split season, with half the presentations taking place now, and half in early January — when awards season, a fashion season by another name, likewise picks up steam.

Pre-fall is typically a great season — I am particularly into these casually draped furs at Creatures of the Wind — but the pace of ready-to-wear fashion alone is increasing so rapidly that my default response is to take a nap.

Once, when I was still working for a fashion buyer, I came across a catalogue for “High Summer” and just slammed the entire folder shut. Stop trying to make these fake seasons a thing. Pre-Fall is not a thing. High Summer is not a thing. Actually, let’s just stop buying clothes entirely!! Jk let’s go visit the Drake store.