Christopher John Rogers Made Several Points With Collection 008

Related | See Every Look From Christopher John Rogers x Target

His most recent collection, which he unveiled this morning, is dubbed simply "Collection 008" a.k.a this is the 8th collection he's designed for his own label, starting from the very first one he did for his college senior thesis. Why does this matter, you ask?

Because we're living in a world where more and more designers are showing whenever the hell they want and not during the traditional February and September fashion months. Though there's freedom and flexibility in showing "off-season" or "off-schedule," it can get confusing and messy for those who work in fashion to keep up with the insanity of collection timing.

Labeling your collection in chronological order, as John Rogers does, is a smart move as it's more digestible for consumers to comprehend while still giving retailers a reference for their buys. (Vogue Runway still adheres to this labeling for their show galleries, calling CJR's latest collection "Resort 2022," which presumably means this clothes will hit stores around November/December.)

John Rogers is not entirely opposed to the idea of seasons, however, as he told the New York Times' Vanessa Friedman in a recent Instagram Live. He's well aware that buyers order clothes for specific time periods. But he's always been drawn to textures and weights of fabric that are inherently transitional, so while it didn't seem important to be overly declarative about whether his collections are "off-season," the Collection 001, 004 or 006 labeling just made sense and he's stuck with it ever since he started designing.

It also makes for a nice memento to see something like "Collection 008" affixed to your garment's label, something most brands don't even do for their runway collections (only very few designers like Marc Jacobs label their runway garments with "Fall/Winter 2019," for instance.) For the bigger brands, who already have a high number of collections under their belt, an alternative could be simply naming it February 2021 or whatever month it launched. Just something to think about!

Anyway, between all the Resort, Pre-Fall and Fall collections that have hit my inbox this week alone, here's hoping that more brands will adopt a similar practice before my brain finally turns to mush. In the meantime, I'll keep smiling at everyone's Target x Christopher John Rogers selfies and hope for a CJR return to the runway in the near future. Oh, and you can pre-order his latest collection on his new e-commerce site starting May 22!

Photos courtesy of Christopher John Rogers