With the coronavirus pandemic cancelling fashion shows for the foreseeable future, Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, Chloé’s Natacha Ramsay-Levi and Balenciaga’s Cedric Charbit gathered on Zoom with VogueRunway Director Nicole Phelps to discuss how fashion shows can change in the future. During the hour-long call, the group of designers meditated on the value of virtual fashion shows versus physical ones and how coronavirus brings the industry an opportunity to reset and rethink how business is done.

Key aspects of the fashion industry that are often under criticism revolve around the fashion schedule, in particular the fashion shows. There is a lot of concern about the carbon footprint and the great financial expenses that go into these shows. According to a McKinsey report, a 10 to 15-minute fashion show can cost anywhere from $200,000 to over $1 million on average.

This in mind, one of the most crucial aspects of the changing of fashion shows is how they can change digitally and physically, while simultaneously analyzing the audience for these types of events. Of this, Balenciaga CEO Cedric Charbit stated that each season the brand invites about 600 guests to experience the show at Paris Fashion Week, while 8,000 watch the show live on YouTube, 60,000 on Instagram, and over 300,000 discuss the shows on Twitter.

Both Ramsay-Levi and Rousteing echo the sentiment of the need for the audience to be considered. With quarantine over, Rousteing wants to bring Balmain shows to the streets of Paris, allowing for more people to be included in the fashion narrative. Ramsay-Levi said: “I think we all agree that we value a fashion show. It’s a moment where you can gather the community…it’s the way that we experience the fashion show that needs to change and be more inclusive in a way.

With everyone agreeing that a change was necessary, the call began with a question submitted by a member of the audience on Zoom. The question posed, “What’s lost by watching a fashion show online and what’s gained?” This in mind, it is a question that each brand will have to answer in their own way. Rousteing referenced the potential of collaborating with digital artists, “I don’t see digital as less emotional; I see digital as an experience where you can push your dreams to the next level”.

Charbit included [that] “There is a way, after the crisis, that we have a better fashion world. I think there’s a lot of hope in this”. Phelps brought up a question submitted by a viewer, wondering how small brands can compete digitally in the future on the same scale as luxury powerhouses. Of this, Charbit said, “Just like today, it’s not only a matter of money. It’s a matter of ideas and creativity”.

Over the four days of Vogue Global Conversations, designers, fashion CEOs and retailers spoke about creativity, the future of runway shows, of e-commerce and brick and mortar stores. The conclusion? This pandemic is a catalyst for a fashion revolution. Virgil Abloh, CEO of Off-White and artist director of Louis Vuitton Hommes put it simply: “Not for a second will I cancel, or pause, or take time off the calendar”. His point was that we must take this pandemic to consider who fashion is made for and we must listen to what people want from our industry, while keeping in mind that what we produce must be valuable and meaningful while still harnessing emotion.