New York Fashion Week kicks off on Friday with Fall/Winter 2022 shows by Proenza Schouler and Christian Cowan, who will show his collection at the top of the World Trade Center, without forgetting that once again the calendar is shaken up by the absent and the Covid.
Despite the restrictions due to the pandemic and an Omicron variant which upset the preparation of the event, several brands and their creators have decided to maintain a physical show, such as Michael Kors, Altuzarra, Tory Burch, Brandon Maxwell or Telfar, according to the official calendar.
But Tom Ford, who himself chairs the American fashion union (CFDA) and was due to conclude the edition next Wednesday, was forced to give up at the end of January, due to an increase in Covid cases in his teams.
“We have done everything we can to avoid canceling our show in New York, but unfortunately we are faced with the fact that we simply won’t have a full collection in time,” he said.
For his part, Thom Browne is well on the calendar, but on April 29. He explained that he wanted to get closer to the opening of the second act of the major retrospective on American fashion at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). An institution whose curator, Andrew Bolton, is his companion.
– Skyscrapers in pink –
Among the names that count, Proenza Schouler, who has become a great New York classic, kicks off Friday afternoon, in an art gallery in the East village, The Brant Foundation. In September, the last parade of the brand of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez was dominated by bright and sunny colors, a way of trying to turn the page on the pandemic.
In the process, Christian Cowan, who has already dressed Lady Gaga, Cardi B or Lil Nas X, will take to the skies, presenting his collection on the observatory of One World Trade Center, the skyscraper in Manhattan which was raised on the rubble of the twin towers attacked on September 11, 2001. The building appears repainted in pink on the accounts of the social networks of the brand, which cultivates glamor and glitter.
For several years, New York has also had to deal with absentees, who choose to parade elsewhere or turn away from the classic calendar and criticisms of the frantic pace of fashion. For this edition again, no Christopher John Rogers, elected “women’s” designer of the year 2021 by the CFDA, nor Pyer Moss, the brand founded by Kerby Jean-Raymond.
Once again, the opportunity is therefore given to emerging or barely nascent brands to make their debut, most often for presentations and not too expensive parades. This will be the case, for example, of Melke or Dauphinette, which promote sustainable and ethical fashion.
Faced with the opportunity, 26-year-old Emma Gage, who founded Melke during the pandemic, isn’t choosy. For her, being on the Fashion Week calendar, “it really comforts you as someone who is going to be there for a long time”. “It’s very gratifying to realize that people are going to see my work and think that it deserves to be alongside brands that have had a lot of success,” she explained to AFP, in her little studio in Bushwick, a neighborhood in Brooklyn.
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