It’s a three-tier approach that supplies participating brands with venues in multiple formats. Eight brands have unique venues, another four will rotate through a shared showspace in West Chelsea throughout the week, while around 20 designers will participate in a showroom space. The eight brands with their own individual venues are Brandon Maxwell, Simkhai, Fforme, Off-White, Sergio Hudson, Tibi, Altuzzara and Kallmeyer. The four sharing the ‘boutique venue’ are Kate Barton, Advisry, Aknvas and Zankov.
All of the venues will fall within a radius from Hudson Yards, down to the Financial District and up through the East Village. The idea was for shows at similar times to be kept closer together within this area, coordinated with the CFDA, says N4XT Experiences co-founder Imad Izemrane. “It’s going to be a big pivot and a big change, in a way that the schedule makes sense and the calendar makes sense on a day-to-day basis.”
It’s been well received, Izemrane says. It’s no surprise — venue and production support have long been flagged as necessary initiatives by the many brands for whom it is a feat to show season after season. “The greatest need for NYFW has always been financially driven. KFN and the Venue Collective are providing that avenue of support,” says Shah.
Shah has reason to believe that the Venue Collective can succeed where other show hubs before it have failed in New York, because the multiple options for backdrops will keep it from feeling stale. “It’s an approach that allows designer creativity to show through, rather than being restricted to show a certain way,” she says. Kolb agrees: “[KFN] didn’t see a campus at a certain building, they saw New York City as the campus, not locking people into a specific space, so there’s more fluidity, and it’s more organic. I’m eager to see the success of what this is.”
This was the logic behind KFN’s tiered approach, Izemrane adds. “A lot of the designers that you would like to attend really don’t want to share the same venue, the same space, and certainly don’t want to be in and out within a three hour time slot,” he says, referring to the reason many of New York’s big players eschewed communal venues like Spring Studios. “So we’ve been able to create this format now that makes sense, that allows the Altuzarras, and the Off-Whites, etc, to be on our platform, versus having to figure it out on their own and go to other places.”
