Fashion week has lost much of its original purpose. What was once a celebration of craft, critique, and culture has now become diluted by spectacle and surface. The fixes aren’t impossible, they can be as simple as going back to basics: the math, the alphabet, the fundamentals. Social media has blurred the role of critics, often minimizing accountability while rewarding hype. Yet, there is still room to critique without crucifying. We can push the industry forward without punishing creativity.

Authenticity

Consumers crave more than products. They want connection, with brands, yes, but also with the creative directors, strategists, and visionaries behind them. Marketing in fashion is not about selling clothes; it’s about shaping culture and crafting experiences. Today’s audiences expect brands to reflect the world around them, to offer both truth and escapism. Authenticity isn’t just a rule of the playbook, it’s the first chapter.

Boldness

Be brave enough to resist tired traditions. Set your own tone, not the one dictated by industry norms. Strength comes from standing firm in your originality.

Consistency

Funding challenges are real, but consistency doesn’t always require massive budgets. Sometimes less is more. Instead of staging a costly runway show, why not host a pop-up with the intimacy of an afterparty? The point is visibility, community, and execution, not empty extravagance.

Dedication

Shoutout to the designers, buyers, journalists, photographers, directors, and all who pour themselves into this field. This industry is not built for the weak. It demands resilience, passion, and sacrifice, qualities only those immersed in it can truly understand.

Editing

Not everything belongs in the story. Cut what doesn’t align with your vision, the market, or your consumer. Editing is as essential as designing.

Facade

Enough with the performance. Stop faking it for social media clout. Too many finesse their way into shows while those who dedicate their lives to fashion are overlooked.

Grace

Give yourself credit. Reflect on your journey. Growth requires self-recognition, not just critique.

Hire Me

Fashion needs strategists who understand cultural nuance, research, and intersectionality. Degrees don’t make visionaries, authentic ideas and critical thinking do.

Influencers

Where is the balance? Influencers often bypass journalists, buyers, and educators at shows despite lacking fashion literacy. If the internet crashed tomorrow, many brands relying on digital hype would collapse. Fashion must blend digital visibility with traditional credibility, centering scholars, critics, and cultural voices to ensure substance over spectacle.

Joke

The celebrity-sports pipeline has become oversaturated. Collaborations feel hollow when the athlete or artist has no alignment with a brand’s ethos. Authentic partnerships, not quick publicity, create longevity.

Knowledge

Where is the research? Fashion must be rooted in inquiry, analysis, and cultural respect. Without it, brands risk appropriation, weak storytelling, poor timing, and eroded trust. Research turns fashion into knowledge-sharing, not just trend-chasing.

Lane

Stay in your lane, not for competition’s sake but for growth. Trends are tempting, but copying another’s momentum only slows your own. Passion, not desperation, should drive your lane.

Money

Fashion is commerce, yes, but what sells should also carry meaning. Consumers demand substance. Empty products may move once, but they won’t retain loyalty.

**Fashion Week is at a breaking point — where chaos meets critique, and creativity fights to reclaim its soul.**
This visual, illustrated by Matthew White, captures the tension between hype and heritage, spectacle and substance, digital noise and real connection. As the industry collapses under over-influence, a new path emerges — one grounded in authenticity, boldness, and culture.
**Standout looks from the Spring/Summer 2026 collections, featured from left to right:** **Grace Ling**, **Daveed Baptiste,LUAR**, **Diotima**, **Campillo**, **Head of State, and** **Christian Siriano**.

Necessary

Brands and PR teams must align. Too often, poor communication damages reputation. Research and preparation must extend beyond the runway to the people telling your story.

Originality

True originality comes from lived experience. Stealing ideas not only dilutes fashion but erodes trust. Imagination, authentic and unfiltered, is the most powerful design tool.

Pace

Fast fashion paces produce sloppy results. Designers don’t need to chase speed. Collections can thrive outside the runway format, craftsmanship speaks louder than chaos.

Quit

Don’t. Failure is better than stagnation. The greater risk is never trying at all.

Repetition

Heritage houses like Hermès and Louis Vuitton reconceptualize, not recycle. Reinvention is growth; duplication is laziness.

Storytelling

Narrative is the bridge between product and consumer. It fuels loyalty, advocacy, and cultural impact. No story, no soul.

Time

Respect the clock. Making people wait an hour for a 10-minute show is insulting. If you must be late, at least be fashionably so.

Underwhelming

After all the drama, collections must deliver. Too often, the hype outshines the work. Let the energy show up in the garments, not just the anticipation.

Versatility

Range matters, but without cohesion, it’s chaos. A collection should surprise, not confuse.

Winner

Take risks. Balance commercial viability with daring artistry. Fashion is at its best when it meets consumers in the middle, both wearable and visionary.

Xenial

Hospitality matters. Treat all attendees with respect, not just celebrities and influencers. True community is built through genuine welcome, not selective courtesy.

Yawn

Why invest in a show that feels like a campaign rerun? Push boundaries, shake the room, wake us up.

Zealous

Bring back energy, through your concepts, your community, your models. Cast talent who wear the clothes with power, not clothes that wear the models. Restore vitality to the runway.

Fashion week doesn’t need more glitter; it needs more grit. More originality, more storytelling, more research, more respect. If fashion can recalibrate itself around authenticity, knowledge, and community, it can restore its purpose and evolve beyond fleeting hype.