Can we just stop with the novelty fashion show invites?

It's the hottest year in history — just send an email

Fashion week has changed a lot since I started going in 2015. Runway shows aren’t about previewing a new season anymore, they’re giant marketing events — that’s why all the rappers, footballers, Youtubers, Tik Tokers and K-pop stars are on the front row. It’s all about hype now, and everything has been carefully considered for its branding power — even the invitations sent out to guests are a big deal.

When I started out, most of the invites looked kinda like a business card — a nice piece of paper with the show’s address and time tastefully printed, embossed, or handwritten. But by the time I left, they’d become a huge branding exercise, just like the rest of fashion week.

Every season, I’d arrive at my hotel room in Paris with a mountain of invite merch. There was T-shirts for the Off-White show — but also neon orange Gore-tex pouches that you couldn’t really put anything in. I also ended up with a three-pack of Y-3 sweatbands, a Yohji Yamamoto candle and a bizarre Dior pouch that for some reason had a giant ring attached to it. 

Gucci was, and still is, one of the biggest shows of the season, so of course they’d go all-in on their invites in Milan. One season, it was a metal box of branded trinkets — matches, a thread holder and carta d’Armenia burning paper. Another and it was a vinyl record of Florence and The Machine and A$AP Rocky reading poetry, with artwork by Coco Capitan. This season it’s another record and a gold bracelet — I guess just a 12” isn’t enough when it’s the new creative director’s debut. 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg — a quick scan on Google brings up Prada pyjamas, Louis Vuitton clocks (currently on sale for $5,500 on Sotheby’s) and a mock hotel key for Balenciaga. Gucci even sent out free groceries for FW19, which just blows my mind — everyone at fashion week is staying in a hotel, why would you send them a zucchini?

The funny thing is, the invite isn’t even how you get into the show — your name is on a list that gets checked off by a PR with an ipad. So you might be standing outside the Fendi show, holding the official bag of Fendi pasta, but if your name’s not on the list, you’re not getting in.

I can’t help but think how grossly out of touch all this throwaway stuff is. We've just experienced the hottest summer in human history, and the fashion industry has taken decades to start even the smallest amount of sustainability work. Can we just give up the merch obsession for thirty seconds and invite people to shows with an email?