Less looks, more high-turnover fashion: That was the plan for the first edition of New York Fashion Week under Tom Ford’s direction as the new president of the US fashion association CFDA.
The emphasis on “less is more” was of course also a clever PR move to distract from the fact that New York had to deal with a number of rejections in the past, including Victoria Beckham who turned her back on the city. But Ford was not only an organizer, but also a demonstrator.
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His own show was scheduled for the middle of the week – underground in a subway station. You have to know that this time Ford used scenes from Luc Besson’s thriller “Subway” as inspiration for his designs. Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick also looked at the designer from his wall of ideas from a New York drainage shaft.
This mix of pop art and film beauties inspired the designer to create a sporty collection that was all about simplicity, says Ford. First of all, there was a lot of black, which works well as a biker jacket, double-breasted coat, or – more elegant – as a top with a waterfall collar to a long white skirt with pleats.
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The breastplates made by casting were more striking. Yves Saint Laurent already had it in a similar way. He had already ordered these from the sculptor Claude Lalanne in 1969 for his autumn collection. “Breathtakingly beautiful,” said Ford – and copied the idea. Its reference models shone golden at the time, Ford opted instead for the color palette of Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog” series: dark blue, purple, green and copper.
History lesson with Pyer Moss
Like YSL or Tom Ford, many designers work with artists. However, very few choose artists who have been innocent in prison for 45 years. At Kerby Jean-Raymond, collaborations like this are part of the basic framework. For the print motifs of the current collection of his label Pyer Moss, he used pictures by the black painter Richard Phillips. The 73-year-old was accused of murder in 2018 been acquittedwhich he had always denied.
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Kerby Jean-Raymond’s fashion is always about the position of blacks in the USA and the all too often underestimated value of African American cultural heritage. After skipping last season because he did not want to show a half-baked show, the 32-year-old is now back with the finale of his three-part collection series “American, Also”.
In autumn 2018 it was about the black cowboys of the nineteenth century and then about black everyday life in the USA, this time the topic was: “Sister”. A reference to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The singer is considered one of the founders of rock’n’roll, but is often overlooked in the history of the genre. In her honor, the designer turned guitar cases into shoulder bags and piano keys into hems.
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The whole thing was accompanied by a 65-member choir and an introductory text by the writer Casey Gerald about the arrival of the first slaves in the USA exactly 400 years ago. The break was worth it. Kerby Jean-Raymond’s history lesson was absolutely worth seeing.
Power dressing for the working class
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the heads behind Proenza Schouler, have already taken a break from New York Fashion Week – but only to show Haute Couture twice in Paris. The duo has been back for a year and with them a bit of the typical couture game with voluminous silhouettes. This was particularly evident this season in the generously draped midi dresses and broad-shouldered suits.
McCollough and Hernandez did not steal them from the eighties, but, they explained, copied them from the “working women” of the present. They rush through New York, have children, wear high heels on their feet and comfortable shoes to take with them to work afterwards. In this case the slippers designed for Birkenstock. A clever placement, as it fitted into the narrative of the collection: “Power Dressing” now also means having unlimited power over your own appearance.
As in February, the show opened with a beige suit over a black shirt. Misappropriated belts and asymmetrical dresses are now part of the repertoire of Hernandez and McCollough. This season wasn’t just a repetition of established codes, but a refreshing clarification. Fortunately, denim that was too rigid was exchanged for finer fabrics that were precisely tailored, didn’t hang, but sat. Exactly how it should be.
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