The future of Fashion Week in New York City needs to change based on recent reviews. Movies, technology, and sustainability are taking over standard runway shows.

As New York Fashion Week comes to a close, criticism of the event is making headlines. According to Vanity Fair, critics claim the iconic fashion event has lost its way. It has recently been referred to as “increasingly barren and low-key”, and designers are opting to take their shows to Paris.

Despite all the critics, the recent New York Fashion Week had a lot of changes that prove it is changing with the times. It was less about walking the catwalk, and more about moving beyond the runways. This year boasted fashion centric film screenings, conferences, and superhero couture.

One such event this year involved Black Panther the movie. For the Inside Industria event, Marvel invited designers Chromat, Cushnie et Ochs, and Tome to debut new pieces in their collection. All the collections were inspired by the highly anticipated film. As opposed to a typical show, at this party, models stood on a raised platform showing off each look with ferocity while guests snapped photos.

Study Hall was another new event, which brought the tech and fashion worlds together. It was at the Ace Hotel’s Liberty Hall, and helped kick off New York Fashion week. Céline Semaan, the Lebanese-Canadian designer, activist, and founder of sustainable luxury fashion label Slow Factory, spoke at the event.

“Transparency, openness, and education are not emphasized enough in the industry. I wanted to bring some of that geekiness into fashion, something that I felt was needed in order to innovate and evolve. In tech, we have a lot of conferences that are offered to us, whose goal is to connect us with the community, inspire, and inform us of new frameworks and practices; in fashion, I felt that it was something that was missing,” she shared.

People must agree that tech is the future of fashion, because the first time Study Hall sold out in minutes with over 200 in attendance.

Whether it is through technology, film screenings, or pop culture inspiration, the fashion world is changing. Though critics have been slamming New York Fashion week, there were several events this time around that were not the 'traditional' runway show. It will be exciting to see what new events come to the next installment in the fall.

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Rachelle Lewis (189 Articles Published)

Rachelle is a writer who is passionate about writing and talking about celebrity gossip, television, movies, women's empowerment, fashion trends, and dogs. She works for a variety of sites with Valnet Inc. including TheThings.com, TheTalko.com, and BabyGaga.com. When she is not writing she enjoys spending time with her corgi Milo, watching and going to the movies or binge-watching TV, as well as spending time with her family and friends.

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