Pre-Fall By Any Other Name Would Be Twice As Sweet, Says Michael Kors. Is He Right?

Late last week, The Cut reported (via Elle) that Designer and Project Runway Judge Michael Kors said no one cares about pre-fall collections because the name “pre-fall” is unappealing, whereas its inter-season counterpart, resort, has become more popular of late because the name “resort” sounds nice.

A dress from Michael Kors' pre-fall 2011 collection

Michael Kors thinks you'd appreciate this dress more if the collection in which it appeared had a different name.

“Everyone knows now that resort is important, but because the name ‘pre-fall’ is so ugly no one wants to acknowledge that these are the clothes you actually put in your closet,” he said at his recent pre-fall presentation.

Kors is certainly correct about that last part. Pre-fall collections typically consist of more commercially appealing looks than the fall/winter runway shows, but more interest is directed toward the latter likely just for this reason – because fall/winter runway collections are edgier and riskier, thus more intriguing.

As for his opinion that pre-fall gets the shaft because of its “ugly” name, Kors may be right that the name is a problem, but it is not simply because pre-fall is “ugly.” Our guess is that the average consumer thinks pre-fall is merely a preview of what is to come in the traditional fall/winter fashion week shows and thus does not realize they are missing anything.

It is also possible that the name pre-fall is not to blame. Resort shows likely get a decent amount of attention, not because the name resort is prettier than pre-fall, but because they belong to a more specific, obvious purpose (beach-going, cruising, etc.) and tend to be very distinctly summer-y compared to typical spring collections. In other words, resort shows give shoppers something that is more clearly missing from spring shows. Plus, U.S. Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour reportedly wanted more resort shows this year {Fashionologie}, and her influence is large enough that she got her wish, which is likely another reason people pay more attention to resort than pre-fall.

So Kors is right that the pre-fall image needs some revamping. A name change may help, but educating consumers on the difference between pre-fall and fall/winter collections (and why they should pay attention to both) would likely be more of a game changer. The average person doesn’t always understand how fashion works simply because a lot of it is never explained.






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