Saint Laurent Takes Itself Off the Fashion Calendar

The brand "has decided to take control of its pace and reshape its schedule."

The future of fashion week and the runway format may be up in the air, but one major fixture on the traditional fashion calendar is making its stance quite clear. Saint Laurent, which is owned by Kering and designed by Anthony Vaccarello, announced on Monday that it would be taking itself off of the industry's longstanding show schedule, and would instead present new collections at its own cadence.

"Conscious of the current circumstance and its waves of radical change, Saint Laurent has decided to take control of its pace and reshape its schedule," a press release from the brand read. "Now more than ever, the brand will lead its own rhythm, legitimating the value of time and connecting with people globally by getting closer to them in their own space and lives."

Moving forward, Saint Laurent, which typically shows its spring and fall lines during Paris Fashion Week, "will not present its collections in any of the pre-set schedules of 2020," the statement continued. "Saint Laurent will take ownership of its calendar and launch its collections following a plan conceived with an up-to-date perspective, driven by creativity."

It's the first major brand to announce a change in its show schedule since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Alexander Wang adopted a similar strategy in early 2018, opting to present his main line during the pre-collection unveilings, as opposed to the biannual New York Fashion Week.

Earlier this month, the British Fashion Council announced that its upcoming London Fashion Week, scheduled for June and traditionally focused on menswear, would be all-digital and gender-neutral, and that moving forward, brands may choose whether they present spring collections in June or September. Meanwhile, designers from Marc Jacobs to Balmain's Olivier Rousteing have been publicly weighing what the future of fashion shows might look like, once social distancing guidelines are relaxed.

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