Fashion is facing an avalanche of presentations as we speak, as the Resort 2017, Menswear Spring/Summer 2017 and The Haute Couture Fall Winter 2016 collections roll out to compete with the slow trickle of sooner-than-expected Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 collections. If last season was talk of disruption, this season shows that it is now a bonafide fact. Not only do we have challenges to the calendar while facing the division of gender more set in presentation, we also now are coming to celebrate the entrenchment of deconstruction and proportion play as increasingly a new norm. But that is not all; class distinction in fashion is relaying choice as the new luxury, and even with luxury we are seeing rules being broken with purpose to underscore how challenging convention permissively is the new privilege.

The variety of design DNAs present during the recent couture showings illustrate the hallmarks of each designer, bringing distinct points of view to the fashion arena. Each designer so far is bringing their distinct voice, their earned reputation and hallmarks of their label. Some have chosen the security of tradition while others seek to rewrite what that means. Be it either direction, the choice underscores value of investment, which is what couture is.

While we have variety within the couture ranks, another disruption is being lauded during the calendar as Vetements chooses this period to roll out Spring Summer 2017 with a stab at the couture process that fashion is enjoying…and watching carefully.

Following the lead of Damir Doma, Julien David and Public School, Vetements joins the collection shakeup to bring collections to stores sooner. Regardless of the reasons, Vetements has taken disruption a step further by, in effect, crowdsourcing the couture process, creating a collection based on collaboration and customization of other brands. Whereas deconstruction usually means reconfiguring ones own designs, designers such as Maison Margiela introduced artfully repurposing existing materials from other sources several seasons back. Here, Vetements took it a step further by working directly with the sources, letting them recreate based on the their direction. Showing in a department store during regular hours, they covered upending all aspects of hallowed couture ground while producing exclusivity honouring mass influence.

Is it couture? Not by convention, no. But in a modern way it is honest in the uniqueness that couture supports while admitting how the modern world is redefining status. Tradition has standards regarding location and handwork with exotic materials and painstaking effort that define what gets to be called “haute couture". This variation still requires customization but in whole items, not in elements and reflects specialness but in new terms. What is unique in an age where utility matters is the ideas, in effect our new currency. In an age where luxury is mass produced and internationally accessible to the point where what defines it is lost in the drive for profit, a tongue-in-cheek approach as unwittingly nailed the new form of luxury. It’s known yet limited in its incarnation, can fit our world yet can stand apart. And as we look for cues on what will constitute 21st century fashion, this becomes another important part of the puzzle in plain sight. No only are we witnessing the unravelling of the fashion calendar, but we are seeing a new consideration of what fashion design is. And it looks like we’re frank about outsourcing and redesign as integral to breaking new ground.