As fashion shows explore hybrid models as a way to pivot back to physical from digital, moments of tactility and physicality become all the more meaningful. The role of show invitations felt even more important than usual, as they gave us our first – and often only – direct physical encounter with a designer’s vision.
Many designers used physical invitations as a gateway to the digital aspects of their shows, including scannable QR codes. This factor made the need to create a meaningful physical experience even more crucial. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons rose to the challenge with their furry box, a tantalizing tease of their runway show set’s defining characteristic. Salvatore Ferragamo included a unique hybrid model by sharing a physical, 3D-printed architectural object that acted as a digital gateway by connecting to one’s phone.
Jonathan Anderson has given himself a difficult task by needing to follow up his brilliantly crafted show-in-a-box and show-on-the-wall interactive invitations from the past two seasons. But he’s not slowing down yet: this season his presentation took the form of a show in a book, including a handsomely crafted volume featuring the work of artist Joe Brainard, one of Anderson’s inspirational heroes, as well as a newspaper reporting on all things Loewe this season. It’s an excellent way to leverage the invitation to further a visionary creative narrative, and we can’t think of anything we’d rather read with our morning coffee.
Meanwhile, there was no shortage of purely digital invitations. As digital invites lack the immediate intrigue of their physical counterparts, they must rely on excellent design and art direction alone to make their mark. We were happy to see many designers rise to the challenge – design is, after all, what they do best.
Here is a look at The Impression’s best Fall 2021 Women’s fashion show invitations from hybrid fashion weeks in Milan, Paris, New York, and London.
