For most of 2020, it’s been an up and down situation, and how to manage our lives since about the middle of March due to the pandemic. Before the shut down our social calendars were booked for SXSW, spring break plans and all the normal Austin events, including our very busy fashion event calendars we all enjoy that time of year.
For Fashion By Texas event founder Matt Swinney the term “go with the flow” was put to the test. He had to reschedule the in-person Domain fashion show originally scheduled for April. Then the shows were postponed to May, then set for August and then pushed to October for the now virtual format. “At some point, it just became pretty obvious that a LIVE event was just not going to be realistic,” added Swinney.
Another big push for Swinney to keep the event on the fashion calendar was the dilemma designers were in. Collections were already made, inventory was static and there was no place to show their clothing. The virtual option ended up being the safest and economical way, for all already committed to the shows.
Fashionably Austin’s Cheryl Bemis and Fashion by Texas founder Matt Swinney.
While a virtual show has a new set of drawbacks to an in-person event, the new platform did unveil some positive opportunities. Now a new and much wider audience can be reached way beyond to just the people sitting in a venue in Austin.
“I think I am just most excited to see how this all work and really thinking about and using this as a beta test for what a fashion week could look like going forward,” said Swinney. Another positive angle for these shows is the one-to-one connection with a potential buyer offering direct links to purchase the garments while the show is going on. That one element has always been an issue with fashion shows and how to convert runway looks.
Swinney is not the only event producer jumping into a new virtual production arena platform. In fact, most of the recent Spring fashion shows around the globe featured virtual fashion shows or opted to present collections in very limited outdoor show settings with just a handful of attendees and others opted for a produced movie drama format.
The success or possibly the tanking of these new fashion presentation platform ideas or something in between is still out for review. But for 2020, you are certainly on trend for trying just about anything. See you at the end of the virtual Austin runway…for now.
Event details.
Dates: Thursday-Saturday, October 15-17, 2020 (link to watch provided after ticket purchase)
NOTE: Tickets are pay as you can.
Where to Watch: YouTube LIVE! 8 pm CDT
TICKETS HERE