Like many designers of this generation, their environmental impact is a key consideration in any business decision they make, including how they participate in fashion week. “For shows, you have to think about who is making and delivering everything from the set to the food — you have food for the models, designers, dressers — there is so much waste,” says Germanier.
Spanish designer Sonia Carrasco, whose self-titled brand is also showing a fashion film during LFW, feels a sense of responsibility to build her business as ethically as possible. “Many of us have been born with a real commitment to the planet,” says Carrasco. “In everything we do, we have the planet in mind, so we’re always looking at what alternatives there are in the industry.”
Young brands are reclaiming creative control with digital presentations, with free reign to produce whatever they think communicates their message best. It’s Carrasco’s first season on schedule, and she is keen to make it a memorable debut. “This is the time to present ourselves to the world, and with a video, there are a lot of ways to show your identity. We’re free to do whatever we want.” At Copenhagen Fashion Week in August, emerging Danish designer Nynne Kunde was on schedule for the first time under her brand NYNNE, where she presented a short fashion film that was somewhere between a catwalk show and piece of installation art. “I liked the format because I could control the narrative and because it’s pre-taped. If there was something I didn’t like, we could fix it,” says Kunde. “The product coming out is 100 percent me, and as a small brand investing in that experience, the digital format really worked.”
For both Carrasco and Kunde, the closure of their studios for several crucial months forced them to rethink the size of their collections, given the limitations of time and the hard deadline of fashion week looming. “In each collection, we’re getting more responsible,” says Carrasco. “We were delayed because we couldn’t work for two and a half months, so we decided to reduce the quantity, but there’s more quality and creativity and experimentation.” Meanwhile, Kunde’s SS21 collection was created in six weeks. “The last collection we did was way too big for my liking, so I already knew going into it, and reflecting on what is happening in the world, that I wanted to make less clothing. I don’t want to overproduce,” she says.