New York Fashion Week: Summer’s here!

As New York Fashion week kicks off, Susie Lau picks her highlights of the first shows, from Givenchy’s 9/11 tribute to Victoria Beckham’s surf-inspired collection.

It’s all change at New York Fashion Week: shows have shifted from uptown to downtown, the commercial sponsors’ razzmatazz has been dialled down and creativity is the new central focus. The goal? To get eyeballs engaged not with the superfluous hubbub surrounding the shows but with the designers and their work. The first half of New York Fashion Week is traditionally dominated by the theatrical elements of the shows; the main takeaway being the experience rather than the clothes. But the stage in New York is certainly big enough for the two to share.  

A date to remember

The date of 11 September was assigned to Givenchy when they opted to show in New York rather than Paris this season to mark the opening of their new flagship store. Creative director Riccardo Tisci dealt with this difficult day in the best way possible by collaborating with his friend, the artist Marina Abramovic on a mesmeric installation and performance on the pier by Hudson Park. The commemorative columns of light made their presence known nearby at Ground Zero and in our immediate line of sight we saw a woman washing herself underneath a stream of water, a serene couple hugging each other and a man holding two young sapling trees aloft to represent the Twin Towers. 

They were a constant presence throughout the show, a reminder of the sobriety of the occasion. But this was less a comment on history and more of a broad, uplifting missive about love and peace. It also happened to mark Tisci’s 10 year anniversary holding the reins at Givenchy, and this mammoth display of menswear, womenswear and haute couture ran the gamut of his greatest hits – hard-edged tailoring, dresses drenched with dark-hued romance and slip dresses that represented something more vulnerable. This was backed by a soundtrack of singers drawn from five religions, who performed music ranging from a Hebrew prayer to a Hindi love song to a rendition of Ave Maria. The skies above turned from opalescent pinks and blues to a dark indigo. And to emphasise further the universality of the themes expressed, 1,000 members of the public were invited to see the show, which was also broadcast on screens erected in Times Square and SoHo. This was a show in which everyone, whether they knew what Givenchy was about or not, could get emotionally invested. 

Fashion’s statements

Fashion is often criticised for being sealed inside its own bubble, one that doesn’t reflect the realities of the world. But the designers that have fired up NYFW so far have more to say beyond the stitches and seams. Hood by Air’s upward momentum continued as designer Shayne Oliver sent renegade students in deconstructed school uniforms down the catwalk, inspired by the wrecking of his own school uniforms in his Caribbean childhood. It could also be read as a comment on the role of formal education in general. Ripping up the rules and attacking formality is Hood by Air’s modus operandi but here you thought more of the increasingly prohibitive costs of higher education and the dwindling opportunities after graduation. 

Opening Ceremony’s collection was an ode to life itself, specifically to architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian ideals where the rural and urban are combined. Their idea was put into action with plants from the non-profit organisation Edible Schoolyard NYC festooning the catwalk space and Lloyd Wright’s geometric designs adorning the lamps and wall panels. The clothes had a rooted domesticity to them that came alive when several of the models (who were actually from the New York City Ballet), deliberately fell down on the runway and then immediately leapt back up to dust themselves down and dance away. 

Other brands eschew politics in favour of showing their universe. That means that clothes take a back seat in favour of branding, vibe and the elusive cool factor that makes those tills ring. At the second 10 year anniversary show of the week, Alexander Wang vaguely disparaged his clothes as being about the mundane and the everyday as a hotchpotch of sportswear and grunge attire were stitched together in an anything-goes mix. As a dizzying video projected on the runway-length video screen recalled his decade of highs, it was clear that what has made Wang such a success is the fact that it’s as much about the attitude as the actual garments.

Endless summer

With tans lingering on  recently holidayed skin, it’s no coincidence that hot climates were still on people’s minds. These were high summer wardrobes as opposed to springtime jaunts. Joseph Altuzarra fashioned a wardrobe of crushable linens, tightly pleated fabrics and tie-dye made sleek. They were inspired by crafts from the Basque region and looked ready to be drenched by sun. The same applied to newcomers Adam Selman and his cartoonish take on a Hawaiian nudist colony, Howard Taylor and Baja East’s slacker dungarees and loud tie-dye. Abstract figure drawings of surfers glided across Victoria Beckham’s vibrant primary-hued prints that made for a more maximal collection. Fashion month often feels like school term is starting again.  Clearly the designers are still clinging on to their summer holidays.   

Susie Lau is a fashion journalist who blogs at stylebubble.co.uk. She is covering New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks for BBC Culture.

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