Services including Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix and Quibi, the short-form platform launching in April, are increasingly rolling out shows with personalities such as designer Alexander Wang and supermodel Naomi Campbell. From quirky interviews in bathrooms to contests held near the Eiffel tower, these shows aim for fashion’s traditionally trendy, deep-pocketed audience.
The celebrities get a chance at a far bigger, and younger, audience than that of traditional runway shows and fashion magazines, which for years have seen their relevance decline. And the fashion industry, which retains an elitist image, can try to use new streaming shows to connect directly with the general public.
Mr. Wang, who will host Quibi’s “Potty Talk”—videos of 10 minutes or less aimed for mobile viewing—said he’s excited at the opportunity to reach a new audience beyond readers of fashion magazines and the fashion-show crowd. Fashion personalities and labels are also cozying up to video platforms like YouTube. In 2018, YouTube hired fashion-magazine editor Derek Blasberg, with a résumé that includes Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and the show “CNN Style,” to head its fashion-and-beauty division. The platform launched a dedicated fashion page last September and now features channels and series from designers including Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs and Brandon Maxwell, as well as models Doutzen Kroes and Ms. Campbell.
In February YouTube signed deals to live-stream the fall 2020 runway shows. This created a single place to see, live or archived, more than 40 designer labels’ shows, including Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Last September, Amazon Prime Video streamed its recording of Rihanna’s star-studded Savage X Fenty runway show, which was held during New York Fashion Week.
Streaming gives all these services the opportunity to “diversify their portfolio and cast a wider net in order to be able to market themselves outside of this niche fashion community,” said Alison Bringé, chief marketing officer at Launchmetrics, a brand performance data research and insights company. In January, Netflix said it had 167 million subscribers world-wide, while Amazon put Prime members world-wide at 150 million.
Here’s a look at four fashion-related series streaming now or soon:
‘Next in Fashion’ (Netflix)
Launched: Jan. 29
Stars: Co-hosted by model, designer and British TV personality Alexa Chung and Tan France of Netflix’s makeover epic “Queer Eye.”
Premise: Eighteen emerging designers battle each other in this reality series. First they work in pairs, creating runway and commercial versions of streetwear, suits or underwear in each roughly one-hour episode. In runway shows each episode, the co-hosts—as well as guests like Hollywood stylists Jason Bolden and Elizabeth Stewart and designers Phillip Lim and Kerby Jean-Raymond—judge the contestants’ creations. During the second half of the season, the surviving teams split up, and the designers compete with each other. The grand prize includes $250,000 and a chance to present a collection at luxury online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter. (This isn’t Netflix’s first fashion show; “Styling Hollywood,” starring Mr. Bolden and his interior-designer husband Adair Curtis, launched last year.)
How Many Episodes: 10, billed as Season 1
‘Making the Cut’ (Prime Video)
Launches: March 27
Stars: Co-hosted by Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, the Emmy-winning former hosts of broadcast television’s “Project Runway.” With supermodel Naomi Campbell, fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, designer Joseph Altuzarra, Nicole Richie and influencer Chiara Ferragni as judges.
Premise: A dozen fashion designers from all over the world compete for a $1 million prize to invest in their brand and the chance for winning looks to be sold on Amazon immediately after each episode. Locales for the designers’ catwalk shows include, for episode one, the Trocadero site near the Eiffel Tower. A trope of this genre is to show the designers sewing in the run-up to their shows, but here the designers give their ideas to their assigned seamstress—prompting one contestant to say, “In the real world, this is how it goes.” Ms. Klum, famous for her “You’re out” catchphrase on “Project Runway,” this time says to losers, “You’re not making the cut.”
How Many Episodes: Two new episodes lasting roughly an hour each will be available every Friday for five weeks until a finale on April 24.
‘Potty Talk’ (Quibi)
Launches: Soon after April 6, when Quibi starts up
Star: Alexander Wang
Premise: The loo-down. The 36-year-old Mr. Wang, known for his raucous fashion-show afterparties and love of hip-hop, puts his spin on the traditional talk-show format, dishing with celebrities inside the restrooms of hot-ticket events in entertainment, fashion and pop culture.
How Many Episodes: Still being finalized; each 10 minutes or less
‘Fashion’s a Drag’ (Quibi)
Launches: April 6
Stars: Model and actor Willam Belli and model Denise Bidot
Premise: Mr. Belli was a contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” season 4, in 2012 and since then has had roles in the series “Difficult People” and “The Kominsky Method” and in the 2018 film “A Star is Born.” He and Ms. Bidot, a plus-size fashion model, will chat with their drag-queen friends about celebrities’ fashion choices and the industry in general.
How many episodes: New ones, none longer than 10 minutes, available Monday through Friday
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
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