Slim pickings as fashionistas decamp to Paris

New York Fashion Week will offer slimmer pickings than usual when it kicks off today as big names decamp to Paris or Los Angeles and fashionistas search for renewed meaning in the Donald Trump era.

More than 230 000 people will flood into America’s biggest city and cultural capital to attend the bi-annual style bonanza held in September and February, where hundreds of shows, deals and parties rake in nearly $900 million (R12 billion).

Celebrity watchers will be out in force for rapper Kanye West, who returns to the public eye after a rumoured nervous breakdown to show his Yeezy Season 5 range, no doubt hoping to avoid the complaints of last season, when models fainted and his hand-picked audience wilted in a delayed, sweltering outdoor show.

While most events will take place in the hip Chelsea and Soho neighbourhoods, the king of cool Alexander Wang is reportedly making the glitterati trek all the way to Harlem, the heartland of African-American culture.

But expect a topsy-turvy fall/ winter 2017 season with liberal America up in arms over the Trump presidency, absent designers and growing questions about the merits and format of fashion week period.

Tommy Hilfiger, the multibillion-dollar brand loved for its theatrical shows, is leading the exodus to Los Angeles, unveiling his second collection in collaboration with model Gigi Hadid on Venice Beach.

Following suit are Rachel Comey and Rebecca Minkoff. Hood by Air and Rodarte are Paris-bound, with Proenza Schouler to follow in July after a fall/winter 2017 swan song in New York next Monday.

Vera Wang is replacing a runway show with a short movie, to be released online to coincide with the opening of shows in Paris on the same day she is to be awarded France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur.

Also sitting out the season are DKNY, Opening Ceremony, which costumed a ballet production instead, and Puma-Rihanna street wear collaboration Fenty. – AFP