Fashion week is musical theater camp
Fantasy as a theme, sheer everything, etc.
Fashion week feels vaguely like musical theater camp, and I mean that in the best way. The industry’s characters (writers, editors, online personalities, what have you) get into costume for one week (or more if they’re doing the whole tour). Hailing from different corners (just as the choir, choreographer, and other musical theater professionals do), they came together to participate in something that has a *big* audience (also known as the internet). The shows are not the only performances. The commute between shows, the lineup before the shows, the seating process, and the street style moments are just as theatrical as what happens on the runway. The cast shares enthusiasm, commiseration, and bonding between rehearsals. Many have been training for this their whole lives. There’s *some* drama (it is theater, after all). There’s some misery. There’s a lot of beauty. It is, hands down, my favorite musical. Ever.
Needless to say, I felt lucky to be there this season and my brain is still catching up from being in 24/7 absorption mode. Below are my takeaways and a few show recaps from the last eight days:
Takeaways
If you’re not wearing a sheer *something* by SS23, what are you doing?
It’s time to figure out our suit personalities. Are you an oversized navy crepe set (à la Interior) or a taupe ensemble (à la Peter Do)? Acquire a suit, then march around in it with a semi-peeved attitude.
Colors: blue and green honey, blue and GREEN. See proof here, here, and here.
Skin is in. I’d like to think the overall theme of showing more skin means embracing our bodies, feeling free, pushing the boundaries on what’s “appropriate” because what does that even mean, yadda yadda.
Have fun with it. If your outfit makes sense/feels too perfect, it’s boring. The more it feels like a collage of weird things that happen in your brain, the better.
Y2K continues (I love how José Criales-Unzueta breaks down Y2k here). And make it angsty.
Recaps
Interior
This was was #1 for me. The balance of wearability + show drama + artfulness was perfect (and I believe it was Interior’s first-ever show?). The way this show opened *really* felt like theater: It took place in a black box, the lights went down and flashed repeatedly before the models walked, and then the music started (yes, including The Pixies). I really loved the angst that came out in this show - the models held fists as they marched and carried a “not today, satan” attitude (would love to see the brief on this). Oh, and the clothes… damn. I want to wear every piece. Oversized suiting, knits that hang so well on the body, an IDYLLIC leather trench. A tiered lace backless dress closed the show and I will never forget it. More beautiful shots from this show here.
Collina Strada
A celebration of earth, evolution, life, and death. Collina’s Got Milkweed? SS23 show encapsulated the brand’s essence. Collina has always managed to have fun with it while acknowledging something much bigger (mother earth). This show was no exception: A majority of the textiles were sustainably sourced. For example, the denim was made in partnership with unspun, an innovative denim solution that creates custom-sized silhouettes with 3D imaging (inclusive sizing, no waste). The models really *did* float down the runway like butterflies (they even fluttered their hands like wings. Again, would love to see the brief). The collection’s key colors - chartreuse, magenta, teal, sky blue - were that of a dream. It took place in a fucking butterfly preserve/garden. So yeah, it was all very fantasy/dreamlike. Collina take me away! This was my favorite look. Swooooon:
Puppets & Puppets
Butterflies. Lamé. A floral hoop situation. It felt fitting that it was raining the day of the The Puppets & Puppets SS23 show, as it was a dark/moody presentation inspired by Eyes Wide Shut. The collection pays homage to New York nightlife with shimmering fabrics and even alludes to Gustave Doré’s engravings of Dante’s Inferno in a jacquard pattern. After just 4 years of designing, Carly Mark has certainly found her beat. In her interview with Vogue, Mark shared, “…I just turned 34 and I’m growing a business and I’m growing my confidence; I have to in order to run a business. I think about being a woman who is sexual, and business minded, and living in a city, and trying to hold my own, and trying to be intelligent, and trying to connect with other people. It’s hard, and it’s funny, and it’s fun, and it’s difficult—and it’s all the things.” The collection also features a collaboration with Michael Stars, the subject of so many of our Y2K fashion girlie dreams.
Wiederhoeft
I’m not going to pretend like I didn’t cry in this presentation. It really was musical theater meets fashion meets art. This was the label’s eighth collection and first runway show, which focused on five topics: sisyphean obsession, selective memory, postgender ideation, fate vs. free will and the bright idea. Two models opened the show with a beautiful movement/dance performance, which continued as models walked the square around them in astounding pieces: lime green and pink silhouettes, meticulous structures/boning underneath dramatic skirts, and a hard-to-miss juxtaposition between darkness and light (some looks were all black while others were loud and vibrant). But the tones were in no way competing with each other - it all made sense as part of a greater story. Talk about fantasy.
More to come.