At NYFW, designers aimed to entertain while promoting diversity.
Designers can’t just make clothes anymore, they have to be entertainers or risk being pushed aside by the entertainers who are becoming designers themselves. So this season at New York Fashion Week, they upped the experience and performance level.
Ralph Lauren built the Art Deco Ralph’s Club from scratch, and booked Janelle Monae to shake the chandeliers. Tom Ford re-created Luc Besson’s moody 1985 film “Subway” in the actual subway (it may not have smelled F—ing Fabulous, but it looked it). And Rihanna and friends lifted spirits at the Barclays Center, with all sizes shaking and singing in their underwear in a celebration of self-acceptance.
Many of the week’s shows and performances highlighted what may be America’s other most valuable contribution to fashion: promoting diversity.
Two shows celebrated the black experience back-to-back on the same night at historic concert venues: the Tommy x Zendaya block party at the Apollo in Harlem, and Pyer Moss’ tribute to rock-‘n’-roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe at the Kings Theatre in Flatbush, with a gospel choir raising the roof like it was church on Sunday.
“Designers are looking to create a holistic experience,” said Brittney Escovedo of Beyond 8, who produced the Pyer Moss show, which required five rehearsals, 76 choir members, and a band that included a female guitarist and bassist, playing songs by female trailblazers Anita Baker, Whitney Houston and Cardi B.
Tap the link in bio for WWD’s West Coast Executive Editor @boothmoore's complete review of NYFW.
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