Fashion Is in Flux: 5 Stylists Speak on Its Future

It’s hard to envision exactly what the future of fashion will look like. The industry, like many others, has taken pause. We are re-evaluating how we work, what we are saying with the work we do, what we want. There’s the truth that for many, like in so many other factors of American life, normal wasn’t working at all.

We’re seeing multiple seasons blend into two, fashion shows go digital (maybe forever), brands and traditional retailers shutter, and now, with the centering of the Black Lives Matter movement, both performative and conversely very real conversations around systemic anti-Blackness and who is in the room.

We wanted to check the pulse on the creative heart of our industry, so we turned to the people who shape and create its visual language.

We spoke to four leading stylists: Yashua Simmons, the former fashion director of Out who styles brands like Nike and Uniqlo and publications including Fantastic Man, ELLE, and Harper’s Bazaar; Ronald Burton III, the former Document Journal senior fashion editor and StyleBop fashion director who works with Thom Browne, Patrick Ervell, Interview and GQ; Shanghai-based stylist and fashion consultant Leaf Greener; and Marc Goehring, the fashion director of 032C. All four opened up about their experiences in the pandemic and just what this period means for their vision.