Everything You Need To Know About New York Fashion Week 2021

It’s that time of year again: New York Fashion Week. This past year has totally upended what we're used to seeing at the runway spectacle, with stay-at-home orders and government restrictions making in-person fashion shows difficult to execute. Thankfully, designers and fashion houses have spent the last 12 months ensuring that they can share their collections in a responsible, safe, and — yes — creative way moving forward. And February 2021 New York Fashion Week will certainly benefit from their efforts.

Whether it's a socially distanced runway show like Jason Wu, a look book reveal like Christopher John Rogers, or a virtual showcase like Harlem's Fashion Row, there's still plenty of exciting fashion in store at New York Fashion Week, with an opportunity to innovate like never before.

Though New York Fashion Week may no longer invite a swarm of paparazzi, shoulder-to-shoulder seating, and swarms of street style stars, that doesn’t mean that it won't be entertaining and worthwhile. In fact, virtual runway shows may present an opportunity to get a better view of the clothing and to fit more designers and brands into your viewing schedule.

Read on for the answers to all of your New York Fashion Week questions.

Is New York Fashion Week Happening?

In short, yes. New York Fashion Week, in some way, shape, or form, has continued despite Covid-19 restrictions. It might not be the NYFW that you remember from seasons past, and the schedule might be remarkably scaled back, but designers who can have continued to show new collections over the past year and many are continuing to adhere to the traditional fashion schedule.

Is New York Fashion Week Open To The Public?

For in-person Fashion Week shows, you must have an invitation to attend. That’s no more pertinent than this coming season, now that socially distant measures are being put into place. While you might have been able to slip in through the back of shows in years past, you’re definitely going to have to be on the list this year. To watch online during the pandemic, however, you may be able to get lucky by following the designer's Instagram account and getting streaming information that way.

Is New York Fashion Week On TV?

New York Fashion Week is not on TV. You can, however, watch select shows via livestream on Style360 and Vogue Runway.

When Is New York Fashion Week 2021?

New York Fashion Week officially kicks off on February 12, and runs through February 18.

Where Is New York Fashion Week Held?

Though NYFW used to be fairly constrained to a single, tented location, the past few years have spread it out throughout all five boroughs of the city (and sometimes even further than that, on special occasion). The official venue of New York Fashion Week is Spring Studios, at 50 Varick Street, but that does not mean that a designer must use that location in order to participate. In fact, the new tradition has dictated that most do not.

Why Is New York Fashion Week Important?

All fashion weeks are important for the same reason: it allows for a designer to show off the coming season’s designs in a curated collection that brings their vision to life. It's also when trends are set for the coming season. Those trends filter down from designers and street style stars to mass retailers — and shape the way the world dresses for months to come.