What Does ‘Different Seasons’ Mean In Fashion World?
If you’d like a little more insight into when fashion seasons start, getting the hang of it shouldn’t take too long.
Fashion divides itself into seasons which sometimes may be tough to keep up with. These seasons are Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter, Resort and Pre-Fall. The two major seasons, however, are Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter.
Spring/Summer starts in January and runs until around June, and Fall/Winter goes from July to December. Resort collections overlap the first two seasons and are offered around late October through December. Pre-Fall collections appear in stores a bit before Fall/Winter collections come in.
Resort was initially started to cater to the wealthy who would take luxurious trips to exotic destinations during the winter months. This trend started with luxury brands and high-end stores, but has trickled down to many mass-market retailers. While people who shop mass-market retailers probably aren’t jet-setting to a fancy isle, there is still logic behind this idea. Selling four seasons worth of clothes doesn’t cost retailers any more but does give shoppers even more selection to choose from, which translates into more income for retailers.
Fashion’s retail calendar is a lot different from the traditional calendar. It’s pretty easy to see why these seasons cause confusion. In January it’s still cold, so you may wonder why Spring/Summer and Resort collections would be for sale in stores. Retailers like to start selling spring clothes early. Fall merchandise arrives in stores around July, to catch back-to-school shoppers.
When a new season comes in, you’ll notice the prior season will generally go on sale. All of these tactics are used to maximize sales.
Couture
Some of the uninitiated toss it around relentlessly in an ungainly belief that peppering your language with “exotic” French expressions will make you sound smarter while others (ab)use it because haute couture collections are way fancier than ready-to-wear.
To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, a fashion house must follow these rules:
- Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
- Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
- Each season (i.e. twice a year) present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear
Fashion Week
Fashion Week seasons are out of whack with retail seasons. Fall/Winter Fashion Week is held in February, showcasing trends for the upcoming winter. Spring/Summer Fashion Week is held in September, displaying trends for the upcoming spring. Collections are shown this early for a variety of reasons. Retail buyers need time to view collections and decide which pieces they want to pick up — in turn, designers need time to manufacture those orders.
Because Resort and Pre-Fall aren’t as major as Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, they don’t have their own Fashion Weeks. They do, however, show around the same time. Most designers choose simply to shoot their looks on models and send them out to press.
Ready-to-wear
The term ready-to-wear is a funny one, though. You’d think that, like the pre-made, ready-to-eat turkey sandwiches at Pret-à-Manger, ready-to-wear would signify clothes that are, quite literally, ready to be worn.
[wikipedia]
