Karl Lagerfeld

Karl's Verdict On See-Now, Buy-Now

KARL LAGERFELD has spoken out for the first time about the show-format debate  (the new see-now, buy-now model vs the traditional show-six-months-ahead-of-availability system) currently raging in the fashion industry. Unsurprisingly, Lagerfeld has strong opinions on the matter."It's a mess," he said backstage at Fendi, the Financial Times reports. "The reality is that you have to give people the time to make their choice, to order the clothes or handbags, and to produce them beautifully so that editors can photograph them. If not, that's the end of everything."

Lagerfeld isn't the only one who's rejecting the new in-season fashion-week model, many of the world's biggest luxury houses - including Dior, Chanel, Chloé, Isabel Marant, Balenciaga and Lanvin - have already opted out of the new system, with Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault  asserting that the immediacy of see-now, buy-now "negates the dream of luxury".

"This way is chaos," Lagerfeld went on. "People who have 300 shops like Fendi can do it, but then you have to make it already six months before, show it to the editors and somebody will see it anyway. That's impossible. And people who have no retail shops, well, they don't know what to do."

PFW Says No To New Shows Model

Lagerfeld did reveal, however, that he already creates one collection per year that lands in the company's retail stores without being shown to buyers.
"The world is changing - not always for the best - but we have to follow the changes and the internet, but there is a way of doing it, you know? It's not just about talking bullshit," he said. "Chanel makes six collections per year, but I make already one - the capsule - that is not shown to the press, to nobody. The day it comes out is the day the stores get a document. Now I want to do something else - perhaps it's too early to talk about it - to make a special collection only for the internet. Fifteen things, you buy them and you get them immediately."