Ed Filipowski, president, KCD: This is the biggest dilemma: How do you find the balance between fashion purism and the new technology? I don’t think we’re anywhere near answering it, unless some genius comes out of the door and does something that changes everybody.

Alber Elbaz, Lanvin: There’s this feeling in fashion that everything has to be faster. We presented the pre-collection in New York for the first time this year, and it was all over the Internet right away. By the time we came back to Paris, it was old news, and so we didn’t do our usual presentation at the Crillon.

Patrizio di Marco, president and CEO, Gucci: Seeing the collections firsthand on the runway and in the showrooms immediately afterward cannot be replaced by a virtual experience. Nor can all of the meetings that go on around fashion week, which are also another important aspect of these seasonal industry gatherings.

Jason Wu: I don’t think live streaming the show just to live stream the show necessarily benefits the company and wouldn’t necessarily help it sell more clothes. But doing it as an online event with a retailer can be very beneficial.

Laura Mulleavy, Rodarte: I feel like the shows should be before the major holidays…. When you’re working with mills in Italy, they take off the time and they’re closed, and there’s no dialogue to be had about anything that’s coming in. If it comes in wrong at the beginning of January, then what do you do? You could get things done more efficiently if these two huge holidays weren’t standing in your way. But then you’d have to figure out what time frame.

Robert Duffy, president, Marc Jacobs: [Live streaming fall] doesn’t lessen interest in spring. We’re having a great spring season. People want things that are different. That’s what fashion is about—change. You know Marc. Every season it’s something different. That’s what he does; he’s an artist. He’s creating something, and it’s always evolving into something else and something else will stimulate him.

And the customers will respond. They want what they see on the runway. We had a spring collection that looked like birthday cakes, and then we had a fall show that was all beige and tonal, and everything just looks purely luxurious and not frivolous at all. But it is the same person.

Lazaro Hernandez, Proenza Schouler: What’s the point of showing these clothes so early on and having them on Style.com and having them on the Internet and having them worn by celebrities and this whole thing so quickly, when you’re promoting a product that’s not even available to buy? That doesn’t make sense. If this entire machine was happening and these clothes were actually available to be bought at that moment, that would revolutionize things.

Marigay McKee, fashion and beauty director, Harrods: The virtual front-row seat that viewers receive feeds their unquenchable appetite for fashion. Technological developments mean designers are utilizing the Web to raise their profile and communicate directly to a massive audience.

Pierre Rougier, owner, PR Consulting: Shows are too early, there’s no question about it. I think everybody agrees, and everybody each season wonders why are the shows so early and no one can really figure out who decides that the shows are going to be so early. You pretty much show the fall-winter a month after you show the pre-collection. It’s crazy. Everybody says it’s the other one’s fault. If you ask the retailers, they’ll say it’s the press. If you ask the press, they’ll say it’s the retailers. If you ask the press or retailers, they’ll probably tell you it’s the designers. No one really knows. Maybe someone knows. That person or that group needs to come forward and say why the shows are so early.

Michael Kors: We are incredibly cognizant of the fact that you’ve got to have clothes that you can put on that day. The simple truth is no woman is interested in looking at a white linen suit in Chicago on February 1. The same thing with pre-fall. I don’t understand these pre-fall collections that are full of bulletproof tweed and fox boleros and 30-ply sweaters. They look divine, but it’s May.

Kate Mulleavy, Rodarte: I believe in change. It’s just that I think it can cause problems, possibly sacrificing craftsmanship, which is intrinsic to the business as a whole and is the cornerstone of luxury. You need to know that when you’re spending a certain amount of money, this is a very special product with the framework that makes it special.

Natalie Massenet, founder and chairman, Net-a-porter.com: We need to rejig the schedule in order to market products the consumer can buy now. Yes, the process will be painful, but we need to be showing the spring collections now…. Buyers and the press have been privileged and blessed to be in this little club, but now the consumer is in the room with us, and everything has changed.