Fashion Seasons

A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know what's "in" and what's "out" for the season. The most prominent fashion weeks are held in the four fashion capitals of the world: New York City, London, Milan, and Paris.Some other important fashion weeks in the world are held in Australia, Bangalore, Jakarta, Berlin, Barcelona, Seoul, Tokyo, São Paulo, Los Angeles, Łódź, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Toronto, Madrid.

Characteristics

In the major fashion capitals, fashion weeks are semiannual events. January through April designers showcase their autumn and winter collections and September through November the spring/summer collections are shown. Fashion weeks must be held several months in advance of the season to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. This is also to allow time for retailers to arrange to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing. Latest innovations in dress designs are showcased by renowned fashion designers during these fashion weeks, and all these latest collections are covered in magazines such as designerzcentraland Vogue.

Schedule

New York City, London, Milan, and Paris each host a fashion week twice a year with New York beginning each season and the other cities following in the aforementioned order.

There are two major seasons per year - Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. For womenswear, the Autumn/Winter shows always start in New York in February and end in Paris in March. Spring/Summer shows start in New York in September and end in Paris in October. Menswear Autumn/Winter shows start in January in Milan for typically less than a week followed by another short week in Paris. Menswear Spring/Summer shows are done in June. Womenswear haute coutureshows typically happen in Paris a week after the Menswear Paris shows. For the first time, womenswear haute couture will also be shown in Singapore, during its haute couture Women's Fashion Week in October 2011. This will be the first time womenswear haute couture shows are held outside of Paris.

Over the past few years,When and more designers have shown inter-seasonal collections between the traditional Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons. These collections are usually more commercial than the main season collections and help shorten the customer's wait for new season clothes. The inter-seasonal collections are Resort/Cruise (before Spring/Summer) and Pre-Fall (before Autumn/Winter). There is no fixed schedule for these shows in any of the major fashion capitals but they typically happen three months after the main season shows. Some designers show their inter-seasonal collections outside their home city. For example, Karl Lagerfeld has shown his Resort and Pre-Fall collections for Chanel in cities such as Moscow, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo instead of Paris. Many designers also put on presentations as opposed to traditional shows during Resort and Pre-Fall either to cut down costs or because they feel the clothes can be better understood in this medium.

Some fashion weeks can be genre-specific, such as a Miami Fashion Week (swimwear), Rio Summer (swimwear), Prêt-a-Porter (ready-to-wear) Fashion Week, Couture (one-of-a-kind designer original) Fashion Week and Bridal Fashion Week, while Portland (Oregon, USA) Fashion Week shows some eco-friendly designers.

Fashion Calendar

• The fashion industry calendar is divided into two major time seasons. Spring generally refers to the six-month period from January to June, and Fall refers to the months from July to December. These are the most traditionally used dividing marks, although individual designers or stores may choose to operate using slightly different months or timing.

Fashion Week

• Fashion Week occurs twice a year, in February and in September. This weeklong event consists of a series of fashion shows presented by individual designers and fashion labels. The most publicized American fashion week takes place in Bryant Park in New York City. Fall clothing is shown in February, and Spring is shown in September. Fashion Week serves two purposes. First, it attracts publicity for the fashion industry. Secondly, retailers view designers' latest collections and begin buying next season's merchandise.
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Fall

• Fall fashion will typically set in stores in July, in time for the back-to-school shopping period. Generally, spring and summer merchandise would go on permanent sale at this point. Fall clothing often shows a jewel-tone color palette, long sleeves, heavier fabrics and light outerwear. A retailer may choose to set different weather-appropriate merchandise in stores that are located in warmer climates.

Winter/ Holiday

• Winter/holiday season clothing is very important--this is the merchandise that is in stores during Thanksgiving and Christmas, a time period which produces a very large sales volume. Winter/holiday clothing will usually arrive in stores from late October to early November and will carry through the rest of the calendar year. Regardless of fashion trends, one can usually expect to see velvets, embellished clothing, heavy outerwear and party dresses in stores at this time.

Seasonless Dressing

• "Seasonless dressing" is a recent fashion movement, describing a trend of wearing the same fashions year-round. People are spending increased amounts of time in climate-controlled environments. Air-conditioned and heated cars and work spaces equal less time in natural temperatures, and thus, less demand for heavy winter clothing. This means that fall and winter clothing may begin to appear and feel less autumnal--designers will show lighter fabrics and lighter colors. Summer clothing could become acceptable as year-round clothing--for example, summer dresses can be adapted for fall by layering turtlenecks and tights underneath.

Seasons of America

Winter - Dec, Jan and Feb

Spring - Mar, Apr, May

Summer - Jun, Jul, Aug

Fall/Autumn - Sep, Oct, Nov