The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

New York fashion week or the runway that was reborn twice

2021-09-13T13:52:35.645Z


Two decades ago the 9/11 attacks caught American industry celebrating their parades. Now, after this year and a half of pandemic and millionaire losses, they plan another resurgence by playing the card of spectacle and optimism.


Last Saturday, Fern Mallis, the former executive director of the Council of American Designers at the turn of the century and a thinking mind of New York Fashion Week for more than a decade, recalled at a public event alongside other big names. of the industry (the president of IMG Models, Ivan Bart, and the model Karen Elson, among others) how on September 11, 2001 he caught them in the middle of the parade maelstrom. “A couple of days before we had a Marc Jacobs party with the towers in the background. At that time, I didn't know how to tell the designers and organizers who still didn't know what was going on, ”Mallis recalled. Over time, the wound was healing, and in the course of these two decades the New York parades have had their ups and downs,but they have managed to capture emerging talent and elevate a good handful of names in the global market. Now, that American fashion faces another stage of recovery, many of those names (Thom Browne, Altuzarra, Proenza Schouler ...) have returned home to present their proposals, within a calendar that has hosted more than ninety events and that In Mallis's words, “It has been a success despite the circumstances. Our mission, then and now, is to foster closeness and hope ”.“It has been a success despite the circumstances. Our mission, then and now, is to foster closeness and hope ”.“It has been a success despite the circumstances. Our mission, then and now, is to foster closeness and hope ”.

To promote this idea of ​​union and rapprochement, many of the parades have been held outdoors. Eckhaus Latta, which is due to its modern fans, did it in the streets of Bushwick (Brooklyn), Moschino returned to Bryant Park, the place where this fashion week was celebrated for two decades, Michael Kors did the same in Tavern on the Green, that little landscaped paradise in the middle of Central Park, and Proenza Schouler left the audience speechless with his

show

in Little Island, the park built on the Hudson River.

The feeling of celebration could also be felt in most of the proposals. At Carolina Herrera it was literal, because the firm is forty years old. Wes Gordon, its creative director, delights in the brand's archives in a collection that begins with the black and white graphic games, the hallmark of the house, and gives way to imposing pink, red and flower-print garments. The puffed sleeves, another of Herrera's recurring elements, display their volume more and the dresses, short or long, play with the majesty of tulle and silk and with hand embroidery. “For this proposal I have taken as a starting point the spring-summer 1983 collection, one of my favorites. Carolina Herrera's wife has always been very aware of the transformative power of fashion ”, says Gordon,which also highlights the capital importance of his team and his workshop, "working tirelessly for months."

Michael Kors assures that there is "a global desire to show and celebrate the body, the skin", to recover a sexy attitude towards the wardrobe. For this reason, she completes her collection of bras,

croptops

and sharp necklines that contrasts with high-waisted pants and classic-cut pencil skirts. Park Avenue shows the navel (the one it thinks is the center of the world). His collection seeks to be "romantic but simple" -as he explained in a digital press conference prior to the show-, as well as rich in timeless tailoring pieces, those that -in his opinion- constitute the indisputable answer of luxury compared to

fast fashion

.

As a paradigm of the American designer that he is, Kors offers pragmatic pieces, without this being synonymous with boring but rather connected with contemporary needs.

“We live in a world where we constantly take photos of ourselves.

So my coats and jackets have collars and necklines with volumes and structures that flatter when you take a

selfie

”.

Three of the Michael Kors Show Proposals Courtesy of Michael Kors

Sergio Hudson also speaks of power and optimism, “I work at the service of women, so that they feel comfortable and safe. That's why my designs are focused on tailoring, ”she commented via Zoom after her first show in New York, a collection inspired by Diahann Carrol, the first African-American actress who managed to land a leading role in the cinema. Monochromatic suit suits, in red and maroon and framed by wide belts, which carried the day when Hudson rose to fame: when Michelle Obama chose to wear one of them at the last presidential inauguration. "It changed everything," says Hudson, "thanks to that I think that, in a while, I could be able to reach more people, work with other more affordable price ranges, develop my business ...". Another rookie, the Vietnamese Peter Do,he knew how to turn his first show into one of the most anticipated on the calendar. It did not disappoint. His garments, which reinvent tailoring in a conceptual and purist key, were among the most celebrated of the week.

Custo Barcelona presented his collection for the second time through a

fashion film

. Due to restrictions imposed in the United States as a result of the pandemic, Custo Dalmau's team was unable to travel to New York this time either. The designer who has been parading around the world for 40 years and has never missed his appointment with Manhattan misses the city. "The

fashion films

it is something that we have had to forcefully discover and it works. But the catwalk has something emotional that cannot be replaced, "he says by phone. Next Saturday he will retaliate at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid with a face-to-face show, although he assures that he still does not know what the capacity will be. "It seems that they are still not very sure how many people we are going to be able to invite." Whether they are a lot or a few, they will be able to contemplate live the collection that was shown digitally last Thursday and that, as the Spanish designer details, “uses research in materials with fabrics made from milk fibers or bamboo as the basis to build a new fashion language ”.

The return to the New York parades closes tonight with the Met Gala and the opening of its annual exhibition. Titled "in America: a fashion lexicon", it will deal with the identity of North American fashion. An idea that has also passed through this week of fashion shows, in which for the first time in years designers of African, Latin or Asian descent have not been the exception, but the norm. The wealth of discourses and identities is key in an industry that seeks to export the 'Brand America' to refloat its business.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-09-13

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-27T19:33:26.961Z
Life/Entertain 2024-02-20T18:11:36.782Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.