NEW YORK — After back and forth negotiations over the fashion show schedule, New York and London agreed to move up their dates for the September 2012 shows. New York Fashion Week will take place Sept. 6 through 13th, and London Fashion Week will follow Sept. 14 through Sept. 18.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America and the British Fashion Council confirmed the new dates for their fashion shows and said they remain committed to finding a long-term solution, so all four fashion capitals (New York, London, Milan and Paris) can plan ahead “and when exceptional circumstances arise, there is dialogue and empathy to find a solution that works for all.”
Milan’s fashion shows will take place Sept. 19 through Sept. 25, and Paris will follow Sept. 26 through Oct. 3.
Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA, told WWD Tuesday: “We’ve been back and forth on this. People are anxious and need to know the dates. There’s no value for the cities to compete. In the spirit of working together, London and New York are in agreement that we will go in the earlier period, but with the hope that the four cities will come out of this confusion and work together to plan future show weeks. We need to begin to look at the fashion season not as individual fashion weeks, but very much as a global business.”
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He noted that the four fashion capitals haven’t agreed yet on 2013 and 2014. He said the only round of shows they’ve agreed upon thus far is September 2012. “Clearly, we have to agree going forward. Our work is cut out for us,” said Kolb. He said that Milan originally agreed to later show dates in September 2013, but Paris did not. So they are still in discussions, but he expects a resolution quickly.
Asked if he would agree to start later in 2013 and 2014, Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion, said Tuesday, “No. We are showing a united front with the Chambre.” Didier Grumbach, president of France’s Chambre Syndicale, declined to comment Tuesday.
The British Council stated, “The CFDA, Somerset House [the BFC’s venue] and Brazilian Olympic Committee (who will be located at Somerset House during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games) have all made resolving the dates challenge for September possible. We can now look forward, plan for September and continue to develop London Fashion Week as a global platform for British brands and talent.”
As reported, after butting heads over a clash of proposed show calendars for next September through 2014, the CFDA hashed out dates with Italy’s Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. In late November, Italian officials agreed to a proposal put forth in October by CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg to begin New York Fashion Week on the second Thursday in September, starting in 2013, a scenario which would have pushed the opening day of Paris Fashion Week back to Oct. 2 in 2013 and Oct. 1 in 2014.
The Chambre Syndicale said in November that its members had voted unanimously to stick to its planned dates for Paris Fashion Weeks in 2013 and 2014. The proposed dates thwarted weeks of efforts by organizers in New York, Milan and London to reach an agreement on the show schedule. The slotted Paris dates are: Feb. 26 to March 6 and Sept. 24 to Oct. 2 in 2013, and Feb. 25 to March 5 and Sept. 23 to Oct. 1 in 2014. The Paris schedule clashes with the second-Thursday ruling proposed by the CFDA for both the February and September show weeks in 2013 and 2014.