How Many Times Will New York Fashion Week Be Declared Dead?

“Fashion week is dead and we need to bring back gatekeeping,” declared digital creator and model, Taylor Hawkins. In another viral TikTok that received over 7.9 million views, content creator @nomoredanny echoed a similar attitude over SS24, “Fashion week was a disaster,” citing the protestors crashing the Coach runway, influencers poorly walking the runway such as Paige Niemann, an Ariana Grande lookalike, and overall bad event etiquette (a la screaming matches outside of event venues over admittance between influencers and PR). The concept of NYFW’s death is not new and seems to gain traction every fashion season. But why? —Is the influencer economy to blame? The never-ending demand of neoliberal capitalism? Prestige fashion houses? Or is it that there is more public accessibility than ever before to attend?

For SS24, many prestige legacy brands and fashion houses decided not to show in New York, instead opting to show across the pond in Paris, London, or Milan. Many are saying it’s oversaturated—no longer an exclusive glitterati affair that blurs business and pleasure for industry insiders. Instead, seemingly becoming a landfill of forgettable social media clickbait. One show burying another for air time, scheduled so closely together in a chic vacuum.