What are Pre-Collections and Are They Really Necessary?
With Resort Collections 2016 now in full swing, and the intense media coverage they stir up on fashion blogs, social media and monthly magazines, no one, not even the fashion layman, can be oblivious to their significance. Instead of the once ubiquitous Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter fashion weeks, the fashion calendar is now broken up into four collection-showing international events, with most brands adhering to this gruelling workload. The pre-collections are meant to bridge the gap between the more ‘regular’ seasons, keeping customers happy in a world where fast-fashion brought by high street retailers and the digital revolution mean that no one likes to wait for anything any longer. The customer needs inter-seasonal shop drops to remain satisfied, and gleefully part with their hard-earned cash on a more regular basis.
Originally, a ‘Resort’ or ‘Cruise’ collection, was reserved for the jet-setting client list of renowned designers, who were off to warmer climes in the dead of winter (on a resort or cruising along in the Southern hemisphere). Usually showing from May through to July, the collections then hit the stores in November, between Autumn/Winter stock dropping in September and Spring/Summer collections arriving in February. Similarly, the Pre-Fall collections bridge the gap between Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, arriving in stores around May and shown during the month of November.
Now, with a growing international fashion audience —meaning both the Northern and Southern hemisphere are shopping the same collections at the same time— the trend towards seasonless dressing is gathering momentum and resort collections no longer focus on swimwear and kaftans. Expect trans-seasonal clothing with bare legs, sleeveless parkas and fine knits. These clothes do not represent a particular season anymore but can become whatever you want them to be. Oftentimes, it simply depends on what you put on your feet.
As well as their transitional quality appealing to the global fashion audience, pre-collection’s designs are also deemed more ‘wearable’ by the customers; with the big show-stopping creations reserved for the more substantial fashion weeks. This wearability factor means that pre-collections are often the most lucrative ones for designers, also due to the fact that they end up in stores for a longer period than their summer and winter counterparts.
The pre-collections are a great opportunity for designers to experiment with new versions of past best-sellers and test new aesthetics on buyers and the press before the main collections take place. This allows them to appraise reactions in a smaller, more intimate setting than during the international fashion weeks. For instance, Industry member Jonathan Saunders reworked some of his signature shapes for his resort 2016 collection —such as shift dresses, sweaters, bias-cut dresses and bomber jackets— but experimented with colours and fabrics.
“I was drawn to this notion of using synthetic colors,” said Saunders. The designer added that he wanted his garments “to have the illusion of synthetic-ness to them, even though they’re silks and wool crepes and all those natural fibers.”
Jonathan Saunders Resort 2016
This also gives a clear indication of what numbers have been successful in the past with fashion buyers, and allow the designers to capitalise on these designs with the opportunity to turn them into more accessible versions for their customers. More sales will mean more money to inject into their main collections, where they can let their creativity run free. The designers will hopefully create successful designs anew, to then be made into more wearable items for the pre-collections. It’s a real bonanza fashion circle.
However, not everything is a positive when it comes to the increased schedule imposed on designers by the demands of business and fashion’s innate greediness. For designers who own namesake labels but also work as head designers for other fashion brands, it can mean up to twelve collections a year. Superstar designer Karl Lagerfeld creates four collections for his eponymous label as well four for Chanel and another four for Fendi. It is the kind of punishing schedule which has been blamed as the reason for stress-induced breakdowns within the fashion world. One cannot forget the untimely demise of Alexander McQueen or John Galliano’s unfortunate stress-busting drug addictions which led to his disgrace.
For all the speculation surrounding the pre-collections, the be-all-and-end-all is that fashion is intrinsically a fast-rolling machine, due to its inherent cyclical and trend-setting quality. Even the high street is now showing four collections a year to the press. The danger of growing at warp speed however, is that the production standards of the industry cannot be met, and fashion risk never freeing itself from its terrible manufacturing repute, as seen with the Bangladesh factory accident.
