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Climate change on the ramp

Changing trends

NEW YORK: Changing trends and styles are the stuff that the fashion industry is built on. But some of the biggest changes the multibillion-dollar global industry is undergoing have more to do with global warming than the usual shifts in season and taste.

In New York over the past two weeks, international designers have been showing their resort — or cruise — collections. It’s an increasingly profitable avenue for the industry, promoted with expensive catwalk shows and celebrity-studded parties. The warm-weather designs, which arrive in the shops in November, are sold alongside winter clothes which, fashion observers say, may no longer be very wintry anyway. “The fashion seasons and the weather seasons are equally off-kilter,” said W magazine’s Trina Lombardo. “They’ll put bikinis in the stores in February, and winter clothes in the stores in July when the weather won’t turn cold till December. Everyone’s talking about season-less clothes, or clothing for all climates,” she said. Some designers see changes in their business to do with climate; others say that they have clients all over the world, particularly in eastern and Russian markets, who need clothes for different temperatures at different times from the western market. The confusion between winter and summer in the fashion industry has been growing for a number of years, said designer Narciso Rodriguez. “The materials we used to work with aren’t cutting it, so we try to find new ways to address the issue. People aren’t really interested in heavy winter coats. They want year-round materials because the seasons have become so erratic. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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