While most major fashion houses, such as Burberry, Tom Ford and Tommy Hilfiger, seem to be latching on the new trend of ‘See Now/Buy Now’, with these fashion brands aligning their collection launches with store launches, making them instantly-shoppable, a few still seem to hold back to the traditional system.

Kering is one of the first major fashion luxury conglomerates to reject the new trend for insta-fashion. The air around the ‘See Now/Buy Now trend seems to indicate that the Spring/Summer 2017 shows will surely be an interesting affair, with some designers following the trend, while some others continue to stick to the traditional system.

Italian fashion house Gucci will be the one from Kering group that will remain loyal to the old fashion calender.

According to CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, the company’s star luxury label Gucci in particular will be sticking to a more traditional approach, under its creative chief Alessandro Michele.

Kering’s CEO Francois-Henri Pinault has opposed the idea of putting the luxury products directly on sale, he said the buy-now approach “negates the dream” of luxury products and that waiting several months for the key items to drop in-store “creates desire”.

Referring to Burberry’s well-publicised move to a close-to-season model as of September, Pinault added, “There are some brands for which a runway show is a communications event… What we will decide will be what suits our brands and our vision of luxury.”

Also read: Gucci sales shine in Kering revenue

Pinault also said that he doesn’t think the Burberry model will become a universal one as it’s just not practical for some brands, including those where the womenswear and menswear are created by different design chiefs.

It’s an interesting move, as one fashion insider commented, “A lot of the Kering designers’ shows in Paris and Milan have no real tech scene. In London and New York, those fashion cities are very much ahead on that score, so that’s another reason why this classic (some would say archaic) model of seeing clothes on the runway and not being able to buy then for six months, can remain as it has in Paris and Milan.”

theimpression.com