NEW YORK FASHION WEEK
It was little more than a year ago that designers uprooted their labels from New York Fashion Week en masse. jacquie ang looks at how the tide may already be turning
Empire Strikes Back
AFTER TOMMY HILFIGER, Rebecca Minkoff and Rachel Comey moved their presentations to Los Angeles last year, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) faced further designer departures. Rodarte and Proenza Schouler, both anchors of the event, followed suit, rocking the New York establishment by breaking away from the traditional fashion calendar and shifting their shows to January and July for Paris Couture Week. Each cited earlier deliveries and longer lifespan on the sales floor as key reasons.
Months later, Joseph Altuzarra decided to decamp to the French capital, where he was born and raised. “The city holds a very deep personal significance for me,” he said. “This has been a dream of mine since the very beginning, and now the time feels right.” Altuzarra staged his spring/summer 2018 show during Paris Fashion Week, where Thom Browne also revealed his womenswear collection for the first time (after SS18 menswear).
The most recent NYFW dropout was Alexander Wang, who premiered his SS19 collection ahead of the others. Although showing in New York, he abandoned the February-September time frame for June and December. Wang plans to release two collections, augmented by strategic product drops throughout the year to accommodate collaborations and partnerships. Reintroducing his SS19 offerings as Collection 1, he left a note on each guest’s seat that read: “Today marks a new beginning, a new identity, and a new day for my brand.”
In spite of these disheartening exits, some European designers are keeping the spotlights trained on New York. Last February, Bottega Veneta staged a one-season-only show during NYFW to celebrate the opening of its new Maison store at 740 Madison Avenue. Located in three 19th-century townhouses on the Upper East Side, the Milanbased luxury label’s third Maison is also its biggest retail space in the world, with almost 15,000 square feet over five floors affording room to showcase the entire Bottega Veneta catalogue, including watches, jewellery, and home and furniture collections.
The brand’s autumn/winter 2018 womenswear and menswear collections, in turn, referenced the city’s spirit. “New Yorkers have a real bravery and boldness,” said the brand’s then-creative director Tomas Maier. “Nothing stops them. Nothing seems impossible.”
Maier translated ideas of working and living in the city into a collection that includes dual-gender silk pyjamas, as well as women’s numbers for evening lounging. The theme also extended to the runway set at the American Stock Exchange, whose backdrop included a working fireplace, a John Chamberlain sculpture and Bottega Veneta furniture.
In May, the city hosted a pair of Cruise presentations. Prada unveiled its collection at The Piano Factory, otherwise known as its Herzog & de Meuron-designed headquarters on West 52nd Street, a move motivated not only by the brand’s long absence from the New York scene, but also Miuccia Prada’s attendance at the Met Gala a few days later. Large semi-transparent panels were floated around the set, as reflections, juxtaposed with walking models, channelled the cityscape outside. Evoking New York’s energy, the show was streamed live to multiple screens in Times Square. “It’s a kind of fantasy of reality,” was how Prada summed it up.
No stranger to the Empire
State, Valentino chose New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts as the setting for its third showcase by designer Pierpaolo Piccioli. Although the streets provided inspiration, Piccioli specifically referenced ’80s hip-hop and last year’s disco- and R&B-infused TV series The Get Down, by Baz Luhrmann. The designer’s heart, however, was in Rome.
“I wanted to capture the life of the street but in a very personal way,” Piccioli told WWD.com.
“Rome isn’t only a postcard, it’s the harmony of many layers together — baroque, paganism, angels, industrial, the churches, all of it. When you think street, you think New York. But Rome also has a contemporary street life.” Thus, Italian photographer Andrea Spotorno shot Piccioli’s trans-seasonal offerings, steeped in everyday eclecticism and imaginative reinterpretation of archival Valentino logos, in little corners of Rome for the lookbook.
More recently, in June, Saint Laurent took a break from its Paris Fashion Week engagement as Anthony Vaccarello took his spring/summer 2019 menswear across the Atlantic. The return recalled the extravagant Opium fragrance launch party aboard a ship at the South Street Seaport some 40 years ago.
Staged on thousands of square feet of shiny black gridded marble across the Hudson in
New Jersey’s Liberty State Park, Vaccarello’s show faced Manhattan. “New York is freedom, a city brimming with energy and possibilities,” Vaccarello mused, “and the perfect backdrop to frame the spirit of this menswear collection.”
In his reimagining of ’70s New York, there was a Studio 54 verve in his urban cowboy decked out in short jackets with high-waisted trousers. For his reinterpretation of evening couture, Vaccarello sent his boys out in ultra-glam strokes of silver body paint, a sexy wink to the fabulous legacy he inherited.
Next month, NYFW also loses regular Victoria Beckham, though as the celebrity designer is returning to London for her 10th anniversary show it’s probably only a one-season absence. Proenza Schouler, on the other hand, is returning to New York. “It’s been a fun ride showing the past two seasons in Paris during Couture (thank you Chambre Syndicale)
but NY will always be home, so we are coming back for spring/ summer 2019,” said the duo’s announcement on Instagram.
“In today’s world, when, where and how one shows can be looser and more fluid than ever and so for now, NY is our home once again. Paris was an amazing opportunity to show what we do to a completely different audience that had never been able to attend a Proenza Schouler show and on that level, as well as on a creative level, it felt really right. We want to thank everyone that was responsible for making Paris an unforgettable experience. Looking forward to heading back home now and being a part of NYFW in September, where it all began.”
That’s the thing about fashion in the Instagram era – there are no geographical or time boundaries. When was it mandatory for designers to stick to one fashion-week schedule?
So, we can look forward to new NYFW entrants. Los Angeles-based Juicy Couture made its comeback in February with its AW18 runway show. After rebranding as Juicy Couture Black Label in 2015, it’s regained its cool cred thanks to a SS17 collaboration with Vetements.
Escada is also prepping for its NYFW debut after months of refreshing its image with the appointments of Global Design Director Niall Sloan and CEO Iris Epple-Righi, as well as a new store concept. The German womenswear company is showing the results of its facelift in New York to celebrate its 40th anniversary and underscore its international appeal.
“We decided to go to there because the US is one of our core markets; we’ve been there since day one. We have strong retail presence in the country and very strong relationships with some of the best department stores,” Epple-Righi explained to WWD.com. “We need to show the brand to a wider audience, which we wouldn’t have been able to if we were to only do a presentation.”
Likewise, Longchamp will commemorate its 70th anniversary with its first full-scale runway show at NYFW, a perfect match for the Parisian family-owned luxury house’s free, daring spirit. “Longchamp has always acted on intuition, something we can allow ourselves to do because we’re independent,” said creative director Sophie Delafontaine, “and we chose New York as we’re inspired by the energy and freedom of the city.”
The news comes after a string of American highlights for the brand this year – it opened a shop on Fifth Avenue, launched a collaboration with Hood by Air designer Shayne Oliver, and appointed Kendall Jenner as its new face.
As Alicia Keys crooned, “These streets will make you feel brand new; big lights will inspire you; hear it for New York, New York, New York!”
WHEN WAS IT MANDATORY FOR DESIGNERS TO STICK TO ONE FASHION-WEEK SCHEDULE?