Helmut Lang show at New York Fashion Week, September 8, 2023 (ANGELA WEISS)
Yellow taxis and urban looks at Helmut Lang, rustic woodwork and a ranch atmosphere at the Ralph Lauren show: New York Fashion Week started on Friday in atmospheres that are polar opposites, which make up its diversity.
With a dozen shows per day at least until Wednesday, the American megacity opens the spring-summer 2024 fashion weeks, before London, then the most popular Milan and Paris.
The official program offers a wealth of young talents and emerging brands, among established names and a handful of heavyweights (Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Altuzarra, Gabriela Hearst, Carolina Herrera, Tory Burch, Luar ).
This recipe allows New York to remain “a cornerstone” of fashion, according to the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Steven Kolb.
In humid, stormy heat, fashionistas began lining up at the start of the afternoon, at the foot of a glass building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, for Helmut Lang’s return to the calendar.
The brand was in the spotlight at New York Fashion Week in the 1990s and 2000s thanks to the minimalist, and at the time innovative, aesthetic of its founder, the Austrian designer who gave it his name and left the fashion in 2005.
Today, Helmut Lang is part of the Japanese fashion giant Fast Retailing, which also owns Uniqlo.
The collection, concocted by one of the young talents of the New York scene, the couturier of Vietnamese origin Peter Do (32 years old), slipped into the heritage of the founder. Black jacket and pants sets are worn with comfort, but crossed by almost neon pink or gold-colored bands along the legs, at the belt, and across the shoulder.
Peter Do reinterprets the fundamentals, as with this denim jumpsuit, rolled up sleeves, open collar. Also a wink with its prints reminiscent of the yellow taxis of New York, on whose neon lights Helmut Lang put his name in advertising at the end of the 90s, a first for a fashion designer.
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“I really want to anchor and dress New York,” said Peter Do, summing up the parade with two words often associated with the city: “chaotic and energetic.”
At Ralph Lauren, symbol of “preppy” style (preppy) and incarnation of American ready-to-wear, the atmosphere was much more intimate, with a rustic barn decor reminiscent of his ranch in Colorado.
For Ralph Lauren too, denim is a trademark. This time, it is reinvented in a “romantic evening outfit” style, embellished with pearls and embroidered feathers, or as a full skirt that ends in a train with floral motifs.
With brightly colored, elegant and sophisticated outfits, the Bronx-born designer wanted to celebrate “a woman who is timeless and modern, bold and romantic, sophisticated and vibrant,” according to his collection note.
With model Christy Turlington on the catwalk and under the eyes of actresses Robin Wright and Amanda Seyfried, the show ended with gold dresses, including one with fringes which required “more than 800 hours of work by fifteen specialized embroiderers” , according to Ralph Lauren.
This season, Fashion Week takes place against the backdrop of a double strike by Hollywood screenwriters and actors for better pay. The movement has reduced the red carpets for premieres to a minimum, meaning so many lost opportunities for brands to dress stars and make it known.
But that doesn’t worry the director of the Council of American Fashion Designers.
“Red carpets are certainly a way to address the public,” puts Steven Kolb into perspective. But the fashion shows and the content broadcast by the brands on social networks will “contribute to a truly audible and visible Fashion Week”, he assures.
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2023-09-08 19:51:00
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