Mud and heat and the rise of ballet, peplums and horror – New York Fashion Week
She stumbles just a little.
She raises her hand as if to say “Free!”
Nihilism: A saxophonist plays the opening notes of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” at Puppets and Puppets, a downtown cool-kid brand that loves to crack jokes with its kitschy, tongue-in-cheek presentations. Models walk the catwalk in the church’s multipurpose room, surrounded by miniature animatronic dancing cats.actress julia fox (“uncut germs) Blow out a puff of steam. Sitting next to the vice president’s stepdaughter Ella Emhoff is Instagram celebrity and Italian greyhound Tika the Iggy. Her model Alana Hadid (somehow Hadid continues to proliferate her) is smoking a lollipop.
We all try really hard.We try hard to look like us. No effort at all, here. Both high and low back and forth. The weather also experienced extreme changes. It wasn’t sweltering, but it was a downpour, ruining the influencers’ outfits and ruining the carefully staged outdoor show. Meanwhile, ordinary fashion insiders spend a week traveling between New York’s disparate poles: Ulla Johnson’s Gowanus, Gypsy Sports’ Governor’s Island, Elena Velez’s Bushwick, Badgley Mischka’s Financial District. I spent .
“It was raining and it was heartbreaking not only for me but also for the team,” Prabal Gurung said. His show was held outdoors on Roosevelt Island, where the runway threatened to become a slip-n-slide. “I told the models to take their shoes off. Everybody gets them. You know I don’t want you to fall off.” But the models put them on. continue.
Meanwhile, the runway at Elena Velez is covered in mud, but this is not due to the weather. The show is held indoors, with models walking through mud in heels and corseted gowns, before stepping down and writhing in it.
People in this crowd pay high prices to get covered in mud.
“We all had spa treatments,” jokes Hadid, who followed in her sisters’ famous footsteps and walked the runway at New York Fashion Week for the first time at the age of 40 in the Beres show.
Was she afraid of falling?
“I mean, I’m worried,” she says. [about that] With or without mud. ”
This theory Expectations that this year’s Fashion Week would be especially crowded with celebrities were not in the cards, given the reduced opportunities for stars thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike that affected Hollywood. There were regular celebrities too, but everything is relative at fashion week. So the people we thought we might meet were in the places we thought we might meet.
Michael Kors’ Blake Lively, Olivia Wilde, Halle Berry.
Amanda Seyfried and Julianne Moore in Ralph Lauren.
Fox and Emhoff are small, interesting, artistic labels.
“I love baby doll motifs and things like that,” Fox says. “I went to the Wiederhoft show yesterday and was very impressed.”
Here’s Zooey Deschanel and her “Property Brothers” fiance – I don’t know which one, and I don’t care enough to look into it – next to Ulla Johnson’s Lily Rabe, Judy Greer and Katie Holmes. sitting in They watch appreciatively as models in watercolor-print dresses with ruffled tentacles roam around a Brooklyn loft space.
This is Hayley Williams from Paramore. I had a pretty disgusting time at a Vogue party co-sponsored by an injectable drug company.
“I didn’t know anyone and it was like a cruise ship,” she said from the front row of the 3.1 Phillip Lim Show in a bleak Chinatown setting. “And we were the only ones whose faces didn’t freeze. There’s no shade.” Botox is coming for all of us. “It’s probably going to take a few more years,” Williams added.
And this is Avril Lavigne. She was the only punctual celebrity to attend Christian Siriano’s show at Midtown’s Pierre Hotel. She arrives near the show’s advertised start time, but the show does not start on time.
“Are there no famous people here other than Avril Lavigne?” said one attendee.
All-Star front rows will fill up quickly. Janet Jackson! With his entourage dressed in matching colors. Laverne Cox. Kesha. Padma Lakshmi’s low-cut strapless gown is threatening to fall off, sparking concerns.
Known for his bold yet classy and strikingly flattering formal wear designs, Siriano continues to work his magic, this time with a balletic twist. Tutu silhouettes and ribbon-lace French braids abounded, and his model Coco Rocha even danced on the runway. (Ballet was really big this year. Adem’s ballet-themed show featured a performance by New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck. Ballerina Misty Copeland performed in the background. My guest was sitting next to Kate Beckinsale. Ballet shoes were everywhere.)
But when the glasses come on easily, you can hear gasps all over the room. Singer Sia’s signature Wearing a face-obscuring wig and a cascading pink and lavender ombre tulle dress, she took to the stage midway through the show to sing “Chandelier” and the 2012 hit “Diamonds,” which she wrote for Rihanna. I started singing.
And then there’s Collina Strada’s Friday night show on the rooftop of Brooklyn Grange, an urban farm adjacent to an old shipyard. The theme is existential fear, a precursor to nihilism.
As the show begins, an original song by Nigerian-British singer Oyinda with the lyrics “Why are we here, the earth is on fire” plays over the speakers. Models stomped down the runway with fists clenched and maniacal grins on their faces, then stood up again, staring thousands of yards into the air and suddenly smiling. of A chaotic mix of patterns and textures, gentle pastel designs sprinkled with elements of anguish and decay, all seem to answer the unsettling question, “What would you wear to an end-of-the-world party?” It seems that.
IBetween spectacle and nihilism are designers who want their clothes, especially the spirit in which they are made, to speak for themselves. One of them is actress Rosario Dawson, who along with Abrima Elwia founded Studio 189, a brand that works with African artisans to produce colorful clothing. The show opens with a bespoke poem by V, formerly known as Eve “The Vagina Monologue” Ensler, set against a backdrop of photos of some of the people working in the brand’s factories. Dancers sprint down the runway wearing shirts encouraging people to vote.
V “has been my activist mentor for many years,” Dawson says. “The power of art and creativity to combat serious issues and show that they are serious and necessary has been very influential and inspiring in my life. Ta.”
Beyond the clothes, the show was fun, with bright pops of color, including hand-dyed indigo and prints inspired by traditional African patterns. The models staggered down the runway, unafraid to have fun. Dawson was standing at the end of the runway, filming a video on his cell phone like any other guest.
We took a break from both spectacle and nihilism at a quiet little show by label Ashlyn (designer Ashlynn Park), held in a Soho loft with abstract art and plush sunken crescent sofas. I found it. There are no celebrities in attendance. Just beautiful tailoring and peplum. Lots of peplum. (Also spotted on Adeam and Jason Wu. Peplum is back, and with a bang.)
At the other end of the spectrum is The Blonde, whose collection is inspired by Britney Spears and movies. “Clash of the Titans”. Club icon Amanda Lepore stumbles to her seat in spiked heels, and Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and Orange Is the New Black’s Daniel Brooks share an air kiss. Backstage, Van Ness takes a photo with Mulvaney. Despite Mulvaney’s small stumble, she seems to be in good spirits.
“I was so proud of her. She stomped that runway hard,” Van Ness says of Mulvaney, but politely declined to speak to reporters.
Blondes once again rounded out the official roster of fashion week shows. After all, you can’t end up with nihilism. As designer David Blond says, it should end with “the biggest celebration of sparkle and glamor imaginable.”
Rachel Tashjian, Ashley Fetters Maloy and Lindsey Underwood contributed to this report.