Pre-Fall Free-For-All | What Pre-Fall Season Really Means

What came first the chicken or the egg? This age old question still plagues the masses.

Click here for FUR TRENDS Book | Fall-Winter 2011-2012

Well, it’s time to add another brain teaser to the mix and it’s called the new phenomena known as “Pre-Fall” Season. Where did it come from? What’s all the chatter about? If you flip through any of the magazines or newspapers that cover the world of fashion, I dare you to find one that doesn’t talk about Pre-Fall this year. You will see the buzz word “Pre-Fall Collections” being attributed to clothing designer’s collections from Haute Couture to the more affordable bridge lines. If you’re anything like the the majority of aspiring fashionistas you had a hard enough time keeping your wardrobe up-to-date with Summer and Fall trends…now we have “Pre-Fall”? So what exactly is “Pre-Fall” you ask?

Despite my in-depth research, I still couldn’t come up with the mastermind behind the emergence of this new fashion cycle. I did however discover who was the first designer out-of- the gate with a “Pre-Fall 2012″ collection …drum roll please… Michael Kors.

When you first hear the term your mind can’t help but revert to images of shorts, cute espadrilles and flouncy airy dresses with pretty flowers; otherwise known as summer attire for most, with the exception of those lucky Californians. After all, doesn’t pre-fall conjure up images of warm, lazy days of late August or September? Not really an accurate depiction because the “Pre-Fall” lines are a mélange of care-free summer with a little hint of covered up sensibility.

Probably the best reasoning for the “Pre-Fall” season came from a December 29, 2011 story in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Fashion’s Other Season Takes the Spotlight” which gave us a bit of history behind what pre-fall traditionally meant. The writes reports that “The term pre-fall refers to what used to be un-glamorous, mostly commercial collections meant to tide shoppers over in between the big spring and fall seasons. They were typically filled with staples like sensible blazers, skirts and sweaters in unchallenging colors. Pre-fall fashions were once low-key affairs, shown by private appointment…if at all.”

Who knew this was already a dormant season of fashion waiting to be discovered. Some reports have it that this new season of design is purely dollar, as opposed to necessity-driven, and is a much needed boost in the arm of fashion in a time when retail sales are rather flat. Perhaps in a collective epiphany there are an expansive list of designers who all got the “Pre-Fall” bug and have developed a plethora of looks which include plenty of fur embellishments and outright full fur garments in their new season collections. As a matter of fact, and this is not an overstatement, many designers with these lines have chosen fur as their key material in defining this new season’s look and feel. Other notable trends across the board include a striking use of bright colors in slightly heavier fabrications.

So ladies, it looks like you have to “up” your game and study even harder to become the fashionista you know you were meant to be. Let the “Pre-Fall” games begin as anticipation mounts with every new collection that is unveiled. Perhaps this will become the season that saved fashion after all.

For more ”Pre-Fall” fashion reads, check out: