American beauty
Wang took a party bus of models on a whistle-stop tour of guerrilla catwalk shows downtown before making a final stop in Brooklyn’s Bushwick for a warehouse party complete with bouncy castle, drinks on tap and a line up that included Ja Rule and Ashanti. The following evening, anyone who wasn’t still nursing a #Wangover was treated to Rihanna’s late-night Fenty Puma showcase, which involved daredevils on stunt bikes performing gravity-defying stunts high above the heads of stunned onlookers below.
But while bigger is often always better in the US, blockbuster productions aren’t the only way to get noticed. Instead, several of New York’s fashion institutions are enjoying a new lease of life under the watch of a new guard. At Calvin
Klein, Belgian designer Raf Simons — previously at the helm of Dior — continued on his mission to make the long-time logo undies and jeans brand into an agenda-setting global fashion force.
“I was thinking a lot about how fashion has allowed itself to become what it has — fast but also often not very daring any more,” said Simons backstage after the show. “Fashion can often be what America wants it to be.” But what the US lacks in freedom and creativity in retail, Simons found instead in its iconic film history. Seeking to contrast the American Dream with Hollywood’s fascination with horror, Simons’ presented cheerleading pom-poms reappropriated into fringed dresses and Hitchcock-esque silhouettes recast in rubber and paint-splattered leather. “Fashion tries to hide the horror and embrace only beauty,” he continues. “But the two cannot exist without each other. This collection is a celebration of that: a celebration of American life.”
Simons’ other great source of inspiration — Andy Warhol — was also at the root of Jonathan Saunders’ latest offering for DVF. While Simons splashed works from the artist’s Death and Disaster series onto tank tops and denim, the Scottish designer named Factory girl Jane Forth — founder Diane Von Furstenberg’s first model in the Seventies — as his muse with a psychedelic colour palette of acid green, spearmint and lavender featuring on flares and handkerchiefhem dresses.
Plundering the rich past of American pop culture was also a motivation for Tibi’s Amy Smilovic, who referenced the work of Eighties street-fashion photographers Jamel Shabazz and Amy Arbus as the catalyst for her breed of sportswearmeets-suiting. Think tailoring worn with tank tops and cool jersey dresses. For Monse, sports — specifically high-school gym class — also defined Laura Kim and
Fernando Garcia’s latest eveningwear offering, with shredded sequin basketball tops and luxe varsity jackets paired with tuxedo track pants, while Han Chong flew the flag for stars and stripes at Self-Portrait.
Meanwhile at Kate Spade New York, Deborah Lloyd rang in the brand’s 25th anniversary with a collection inspired by the Deep South and the sounds of the Preservation Hall Brass Band, flown in from New Orleans for the occasion. And while the good times rolled, British-born Lloyd raised a toast to the strength of women. “With all the craziness that’s going on in this political climate we hope that there can be huge change through the power of femininity,” she said. “It’s a badge of pride, not to be hidden.”
Mirroring this sentiment, Victoria Beckham’s accomplished collection served as a celebration of candy colours, sparkling fairy-tale slippers and ruffled power blouses.
“This collection is really about the many powers of femininity,” said Beckham, speaking ahead of her show. “It’s the idea that delicacy can be strong.”
For the high-flying women of New York, it seems the message for next season is that pretty is more empowering than ever before — and that statement is relevant whether your home is Manhattan or not.
@miss_mccarthy