The weird & wonderful.
With fashion month well underway, one thing that is seldom discussed is the tradition of over the top themed invites. Putting together a fashion show is not only incredibly expensive, but it is also one of the most stressful things a designer and their team will work on. Everything is crucial, and just like any memorable party, the invite itself becomes an extension of the show. And in a media-savvy society, brands are getting more and more creative with their show invites (see Diesel’s SS23 butt plug invite).
Whether it’s Balenciaga’s banknotes, John Galliano’s playing cards for his AW09 show or the Jacquemus Bread for AW19, every year fashion lovers await to see what experimental and innovative invites will be gracing their letter boxes. In modern fashion, over the top themed fashion show invites have become the calling card for an experiential fashion industry built on glitz, glamour and perpetual fantasy.
Photo credit: Louis Vuitton // Fendi
There have been many memorable fashion show invitations over the years. For its Autumn/Winter 2009 collection, Maison Martin Margiela entrusted guests with 3D plastic televisions, complete with the brand’s iconic numbers that played directly into the brand’s minimalist aesthetic. Fendi created custom Fendi logo shaped pasta for its Spring/Summer 2021 show invite. In 2019, the French luxury house Jacquemus provided its guests with a loaf of freshly baked bread along with a formal paper invitation. But, greatest of all was Virgil Abloh, who evolved the art of over the top fashion show invites. In 2017 for his Off-White show, he sent guests an orange t-shirt that served as their runway invitation before taking it to the next level with his Louis Vuitton Autumn / Winter show, where he sent guests an inscribed LV monogrammed clock that only spun counterclockwise and doubled as an invite and home décor.
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Receiving a fashion show invite is one of the greatest pleasures for any fashion lover. Getting to experience the catwalk of a high fashion show firsthand is an honour. Every detail of the show is crafted to convey the vision of the designer, and the show’s invitation is one of the biggest aspects of this. Often overlooked, fashion show invites have become a tradition and play an integral part in expressing the theme of the show and collection – almost like the first introduction and as we all know great first impressions are needed, especially in a fickle fashion industry where attention spans are constantly fleeting. Sadly, It’s not invitee who receives one of these extravagant invitations to the show – since fashion thrives on exclusivity. In the fashion world, a show ticket usually symbolises a person’s notoriety. Additionally, through clever and extravagant invitations, VIPs are made to feel even more special than they already are. The invitations have become souvenirs – a snapshot of the state of the fashion industry at the time. For example, this year Diesel invited 4500 people to it’s Milan show. Safe to say not all were blessed enough to receive the butt plug invite that made rounds on fashion focused IG pages.
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Over time designers have tweaked and redesigned the notion of what a fashion show invite should be, or do. Formally embossed cards or handwritten notes were enough but when operating in a busy and noisy world, you need something to cut through the noise. Now fashion houses send everything but the kitchen sink. In the same way that Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton SS22 board game, Alessandro Michele’s Gucci vocal note, or Balenciaga’s old iPhone 6s AW22 invitations flirt with technology and fashion, invitations have become collector’s items and inevitably go viral, amplifying the reach of a fashion show even before it even takes place.
