The fashion week scheduling nightmare appears to finally be over, at least for now. September 2012 dates for New York and London have just been confirmed, officially, and both cities have agreed to move their dates earlier. New York Fashion Week will take place September 6-13 and London will follow from 14-18, according to a press release the CFDA and the BFC sent out this morning. WWD reports that Milan's Fashion Shows will take place September 18 through 25 and Paris September 25 through October 2. The news comes following more than three months of back and forth between the four fashion capitals after Milan set their September show dates to conflict directly with New York and London and then couldn't be reasoned with, digging its heels further into the ground as the months wore on. The agreement they seem to have reached is the same one New York and London proposed back in November (which DVF referred to as "biting the bullet"). So then why has it taken this long to confirm?
Thought the fashion month show scheduling nightmare was over? Nope, it just got way more complicated. France's Chambre Syndicale has been weirdly quiet while New York, London, and Milan have been battling over show dates. Until now, that is. They just dropped a bomb that essentially pits New York against the rest of the fashion world. If you'll recall, the latest development seemed hopeful for a scheduling resolution: New York agreed to move its spring show dates back to September 6, 2012, and Milan and London agreed to a subsequent second Thursday of the month New York start date for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. But Milan had two conditions: They wanted New York to cut its fashion week by one day so that editors could make it to London's menswear shows (which are usually eclipsed by the first day of Milan shows), and that all the cities--Paris included--had to agree. Well, Paris doesn't agree.
It looks like Milan is going to get its way in September 2012 and will be able to show its designers' spring 2013 collections from September 19-25. Diane von Furstenberg had indicated last month that the CFDA would "bite the bullet" and switch dates, and now that appears to be the official plan, WWD is reporting. New York and London will both agree to move its show dates back a week--New York will run from September 6-13 and London from September 14-18--with a few caveats.
Looks like New York will be the first to cave in the stand off over the international fashion week schedule. CFDA pres Diane von Furstenberg has acquiesced to stick-in-the mud Mario Boselli, the president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda in Milan, saying New York will "bite the bullet" and move its dates earlier in exchange for a formal agreement going forward, the New York Times is reporting. “We have to protect the industry,” she said. “To give jobs is the No. 1 responsibility for anyone today, and that’s what we have to realize.”
The war on fashion week's scheduling continues. After CFDA president Diane Von Furstenberg sent out a rather conciliatory open letter earlier this week, saying the whole thing was one big "misunderstanding," and that she's "convinced it will be resolved," Mario Boselli, head of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, has vowed that no compromise will be made when it comes to Milan's proposed show dates. “There is nothing more to add or change,” he told WWD. Adding that "we regret things went this way, but...it is not our fault and...we are not responsible for this turn of events." He might as well have finished his sentence with "Na-na na-na boo-boo."
The Spring 2013 show season clusterf*ck continues. The CFDA and the BFC reacted immediately after the news came down from Milan's Camera Nazionale della Moda on Friday that it would show its members' spring 2013 collections September 19-25, essentially eating into two of New York's planned days and completely eclipsing London's whole five-day schedule. Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the CFDA, sent out an open letter to the fashion community yesterday. She was rather conciliatory in it, stating that the show date hoopla was a "misunderstanding" and that she was "convinced it will be resolved." But don't think she's going down without a fight. She also told WWD: