The Best of 2021 Women's Spring-Summer Fashion Weeks

NEWS | October 13, 2020

Photo: Burberry spring-summer 2021 fashion show

Despite the uncertainties linked to the pandemic and its restrictions, SS 2021 Fashion Week did indeed take place, from New York to Paris via London and Milan. A month of in-person shows (in limited numbers, of course) and new virtual formats brought us entirely "phygital" programming for the first time. A look back at the most memorable events of this unparalleled season:

While some are still wondering if Fashion Week will ever go back to normal one day, we enjoyed the surprises brought to us by this season's digital offerings. Where some shows were positively audacious, others were much more personal than what we saw last July during Men's Fashion Week, likewise largely virtual. The good news is that online alternatives are starting to get their bearings. The shift also signals a democratization of the fashion scene itself: now available online to all, and free of distinctions and hierarchy.

In Milan, Jeremy Scott for Moschino delivered a highly original presentation. Marionettes in miniature replicas of pieces from his new collection were shown to a front row of icons like Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful, Vogue UK's Editor in Chief. Highly anticipated, Prada revealed its first collection co-created by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, after which the two designers did a Q&A that delighted their fans. Always unmissable, Marni presented an innovative and inclusive initiative. Forty-eight people around the world, from Dakar to Tokyo, received a look from the new collection and were photographed in the street by their friends. A novel way of demonstrating that the fashion world truly has no borders.

In London, Burberry broadcast its show online from the English forest: models wandered across thick mantles of pine needles in a set designed by artist Anne Imhof that awakened a sense of regeneration. The call of the great outdoors was also an inspiration for Koché, who chose the Buttes Chaumont for an in-person show set to the song of bagpipes. The highly successful collection was a continuation of the brand's reflections on gender, artisanship, and eco-responsibility. Also held outdoors was Chloé's "A Season in Hope," presented in front of the Palais de Tokyo and featuring those sharp and subtle lines we've grown to expect from Natacha Ramsay-Levi. Finally, Matthew M. Williams, co-founder of Alyx, humbly revealed his first collection for Givenchy with a stunning look book. Always unstoppable, fashion keeps its eye on the future.