by Emily Blake

February 14-18 is New York Fashion Week, but what does that look like in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic? This week, Fashionista highlighted the designers participating in NYFW for the first time in one of the most non-traditional fashion weeks to date. These include emerging designers looking for an opportunity to gain visibility, whereas the “marquee names” who have traditional carried NYFW, such as Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and Tommy Hilfiger, don’t plan to show collections this week.

The online format of 2021 NYFW is interesting for a few different reasons: most obviously being the audience will not be just New Yorkers (or the non-New Yorkers who previously would have been flown out by designers). This definitely appears to be making NYFW more accessible, but also completely changing both the roster of designers and the everyday cultural elements of what has historically made NYFW a New York institution (events, parties, street style, etc.).

The Pandemic has already altered fashion in a myriad of ways, leading designers like the aforementioned Marc Jacobs to launch new elements of his brand, Heaven, and find new ways to showcase their collections- whether that be digital experiences, virtual runway walks, or just a heightened Instagram presence from the designer himself. Heaven‘s launch included events like having influencers stream live from a 90s teen bedroom set up in the Marc Jacobs store downtown, followed by an influencer event watching a Gregg Araki film at a Brooklyn drive-in movie theatre.

Seeing how the industry has changed, perhaps this online NYFW is not just representative of changes provoked by COVID-19 safety guidelines, but a more inclusive and accessible future of fashion.

Check out Fashionista‘s list of designers that will be debuting this week.