Yahoo News Paris Hilton and Pastels Consume the Runways at NYFW: The Blonds, Noon By Noor, and More
The latest shows gave us a Moulin Rouge-themed extravaganza, sheer fishnet tops, and gauzy get-ups for the one percent. Plus, an unexpected cameo appearance by Mary Shelley.
When a fashion show starts by air dropping its designer in from a flying moon, you know things are only going to get more insane.
In keeping with this season’s most exhausting trend—runways just aren’t good enough, we need Instagram-able extravaganzas now, too—the New York-based pair slapped some sequins on a score of leggy models, Broadway performers, and oh yes, Paris Hilton and Billy Porter, and called it a spring collection.
Yes, it was thrilling to watch an abbreviated performance of the high energy, sexed-up Moulin Rouge on Broadway (while shortened, the chorus still sang “Lady Marmalade” twice. Give the people what they want!)—but the display also laid bare more than just a lot of butt floss. Maybe fashion shows, which basically exist now just so guests can show that they were there, are not the best place to see theater.
It is damn hard to watch a performance when the child blogger’s momager next to you is filming absolutely everything, iPhone held in the air for so long her arms must be cramping the morning after.
The event placed song and dance numbers in between somewhat traditional runway walking. At one point, an army of traditionally sample-sized models (who appeared to be around seven feet tall each in stiletto boots) trotted around to Lizzo and Missy Elliott’s self-empowerment anthem “Tempo.” The song features lyrics like, “I’m a thick bitch, I need tempo.” Not the best optics-wise, but the beat worked.
Things felt more authentic once a crown-clad Billy Porter and his team of voguer-s took the stage, delivering a fiery end number. As models watched him delight the crowd, not really knowing how to get down, Porter-style, it was hard to call the rousing scene anything other than a success.—Alaina Demopoulos
Can fashion really be art? Can art really be fashion? Can this really be an active parking lot that people are lining up in for the Vaquera show? Question marks abounded in this season’s Vaquera show which was preluded by the CDLM and Creatures of the Wind collection on Monday night at the Masonic temple on 24th street in Manhattan.
There were sprinklings of Dada, a dash of goth and a valentine—a literal, walking, bum exposed valentine—all of which was part and parcel for the design trio behind the Vaquera label.
The show’s location at a Masonic temple was a perfect foreshadowing of both the quirkiness of the label and the willingness to engage with the establishment. This season’s collection featured many wearable pieces made out of dark denim fabric, jackets with an artists print on the back, and some elegant evening wear.
As models walked down the catwalk at breakneck speeds, the audience caught glimpses of the brand's trademark styling by Emma Wyman. To give balance to the relatively easy-to-wear items the designer trio sent a few signature looks down the runway including a coverall shaped as a pair of trousers, and a teenage goth widow's dress complete with a bouquet of red flowers.—Sarah Shears
CDLM and Creatures of the Wind, two separate brands that share a designer shared a runway with a collection together that was the opening act for the Vaquera Show on Monday night.
Known for reworking vintage and being edgy fashion darlings of NYC, the brands and designer(s) dispatched a risqué collection featuring breast baring fish-net, bustles and skirts with drape-y, bloody asymmetrical hemlines.—Sarah Shears
Nine in the morning might as well be 4 a.m. for sleep-loving fashionistas, but Noon by Noor designers Shaikha Noor Rashid Al Khalifa and Shaikha Haya Mohamed Al Khalfia did not let such an early slot dull their shine one bit.
Their spring collection, held in front of a window that showed a panoramic view of TriBeCa (and New Jersey) was inspired by shimmering Bahraini Pearls, considered some of the world's purest jewels. Luxury, yes, and the clothes were just as opulent.
Call it casual for the one percent: imagine billowing sleeves that make doing anything other than texting your nanny brunch is running late impossible, or sheer crystal dresses appropriate only if you were invited to go back in time for Truman Capote's 1966 Black and White Ball.
A fairy tale, for sure—who doesn't want to start a weekday with a trip to see how the other half lives?
Waistlines were basically absent; instead, dresses floated as models sauntered in between large silver spheres.
Attention whoever is costume designing the upcoming Anna Delvey film: use these off-duty pieces for scenes where the scammer visits Morocco (and forces her friend to foot the bill).—Alaina Demopoulos
Graham Tyler—master of millinery and high tech designer—presented his new collection in a bare gallery space on Tuesday morning. It was a love letter of sorts to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, and ‘it girl’ of the radical intellectual scene in Victorian London. Like Shelley’s writing, the collection was romantic, Gothic, and complex behind an unassuming simplicity.
The designer used love letters written to Shelley by her husband which Shelley had rewritten in her own script, as the foundational pattern of the woven textiles throughout the collection.
Speaking to the Daily Beast, the designer Graham Tyler said, “My main importance with making technological things is that they don’t look technological—that you approach them as beautiful objects first and foremost. And then once you find out about the process of them being made they become even more special...I think making the technological for tech’s sake is kind of silly.”—Sarah Shears
Esther Gauntlett and Jenny Cheng, the duo behind the eponymous, artsy clothing label, invited guests to a basketball park underneath the Brooklyn Bridge to show off their spring wears. Gauntlett Cheng's folksy-freak designs were shown alongside a drone that flew over models' heads. The team excels at designing knitwear, and a few naughties-esque bandage dresses exuded a casual cool.
The designers favored skin-tight silhouettes or loose pieces that exposed skin when faced with a breeze.
The palette was monochrome, but that doesn't mean boring: ballet slipper pinks, coral reds, and mint green looked very juicy. Alaina Demopoulos
If Claudia Li’s poppy pink raincoats are any indication, the designer is looking forward to spring. Li, who has made a point of enlisting Asian models for her presentations (with help from casting director Edward Kim), has created a playful collection full of spunky pastels and whimsical silhouettes.
The theme of her line this time around was“Phase II,” and Li told The Daily Beast that she feels like she's finally designing for her own tastes.“This comes from a place that is very personal to me,” Li said. “This collection is about me coming out of my box and being more open about myself.”
Li added that she hopes her lineup of models becomes less newsworthy over time. “I'm going to keep doing this until all-Asian casting is not a ‘thing’ anymore,” she said. “That's when the message has pushed through. As long as people mention it, that to me is weird. Why is it not already normal?”
Li mismatched prints, but kept her bright colors scheme consistent.
Li’s outerwear was a highlight of the collection, with oversized shapes and swinging skirts.—Alaina Demopoulos
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