New York Fashion Week and social media: is it good for fashion?

This week is all about New York Fashion Week and social media.  Have you wanted to go to a runway show, but can’t get out of work or school?  Do you want to know now what will be the latest styles for the fall?  Well thanks to social media we are all invited to NYFW this year!  More than ever before, we all have access to what used to be an exclusive event only for fashion insiders, celebrities, and socialites.  Hundreds of miles away from New York, we can watch runway shows live, know which celebrity is attending which show and when they arrive and see photos and read about trends while the shows are still happening.  But, is social media good for fashion?

On one hand, it’s great for fashion because it increases awareness for the fashion week event and for the designers who show at it.  We aren’t just limited to seeing what went down the runway in tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal or even on websites, like Style.com.  By reading fashion blogs and going on Twitter, you can get excited about what’s happening at NYFW right as it’s happening.  Everyone is posting pictures and writing and Tweeting about what they’re seeing from their phones or iPads, creating a buzz for the event and the designers attending in the moment.  Because of that, even more people will come out of this week excited to buy what they saw online, increasing sales and profits for designers, best for lesser-known and emerging designers who need the extra exposure rather than the big luxury brands.  For the fashion week event in general, more people talking about the event in social media helps supplement reports from paid news and press outlets and in turn will increase interest from advertisers and designers for the next event.

On the other hand, all the mass exposure can be a deterrent for people and brands who want to stay exclusive.  They may wear a dress that’s been seen before on the runway by a lot more people than just who was along the catwalk, losing some of its uniqueness.  More importantly though, it also gives mass retailers six months to reproduce what was seen on the runway at much less expensive prices to be sold at malls around the country at the end of the summer when everyone is buying fall clothes.  And by keeping track of which designs and trends are being talked about the most on Twitter and written about the most on blogs and websites, mass retailers have even more of an advantage by knowing which particular pieces to focus their resources and budgets on.

UPDATE: Here’s a good video from the guys behind Proenza Schouler from the Independent Fashion Blogger’s Conference last week.  They talk about the advantages of social media for them and what they think about the “copycats.”

So, what do you think?  Is social media good for fashion?  Want to get in on the action and decide for yourself?  Here are some places where you can get involved from wherever you are:

• Watch runway shows live at sites like livestream
• Find out what celebrities are arriving at each show and what people are seeing on the runway by following @womensweardaily or @styledotcom
• Read about fall trends as soon as they go down the runway on blogs like the Cut and Refinery29
• Join the conversation on Twitter and Tumblr by tagging and searching for #nyfw