NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press is all over New York Fashion Week, from the runways to celebrities as eight days of spring previews entered their fifth day Monday.
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POP-ART EXPLOSION AT JEREMY SCOTT
Jeremy Scott’s fertile pop-art imagination and affection for the outrageous in fashion were on full display Monday at a high-octane, high volume show that melded elements as diverse as “Star Trek,” John Waters movies and Jackson Pollock.
The colors — bright, varied, and bold — popped off the runway as models sauntered along in exaggerated bouffant wigs and bright plastic shoes, some of them outfitted with an inflating nozzle (just for fun, not function).
There were futuristic bikinis topped with bangled dresses, silkscreen dresses with images of vampy women, and knit miniskirts with big cartoon faces on them. For the men, there were fabulous loafers in brilliant yellow, bright green leather pants, or polka dot leather jackets.
Scott’s explanation of the unifying theme was endearingly all-over-the-map.
“It’s my imagination of what the cool kids in the ’80s on the Lower East Side in New York were doing,” he said in a backstage interview. “They were watching those early John Waters films and those Russ Meyer films that inspired them.” He continued: “It’s cross-generational, ’80s looking at ’60s, ’50s. I wanted to play with all these nuances, like the vamp and that bad girl who was like, bouffant a little too high, belt a little too tight.”
But wait — that bad girl has also managed a trip to outer space. Or to a place where they use really cool ray-guns, one of Scott’s more striking prints.
“It’s kind of Star Trek-based,” he said. “Futuristic planets, with those bangly dresses, and some goddess from outer Venus or something. I wanted to play with all that and have fun with it.”
Yet another print — on a series of dresses and tops — seemed to have come from the Jackson Pollock paintings at the Museum of Modern Art.
Scott is having a big moment. Along with his ever-popular runway show this week — attendees included Rita Ora and cast members from “Empire” — a documentary about him, “Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer,” is opening with fanfare this week.
Scott says he feels fortunate how ideas come to him, then come to fruition so easily. “I just find things that I’m excited about and I just build from there,” he said. “It’s very organic. It all comes together. I feel very lucky.”
—Jocelyn Noveck
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A STORIED VENUE FOR CAROLINA HERRERA
For a designer known for her refined elegance, there could hardly have been a better venue for Caroline Herrera to show her wares: The storied Frick Collection on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
Dressed in filmy dresses and gowns in ever-deepening shades of pink and rose, her models snaked around the museum’s garden court, where guests lining the edges included actress Penelope Cruz, sitting next to Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
Afterward, the Venezuelan-born Herrera waxed rhapsodic over the museum’s decision to allow her to mount a fashion show there.
“This is my favorite museum in New York, and always has been, since I was a very young girl,” she said of the museum established by steel magnate Henry Clay Frick some 80 years ago, “It is the most divine place and I was really very honored … it’s the first time that they’ve opened it for a fashion show and I think I was in heaven, because I love it.”
Herrera, 76, has long been known for her elegant designs that have clothed style icons like Jacqueline Kennedy and, multiple times, Michelle Obama. At Monday’s show, she introduced a modern flair, while still portraying the air of fantasy that she says is essential to fashion.
“I am in my rose period,” she said in a backstage interview. “I started with very light shades of pink and then it went a little bit more intense … and I think for a woman to wear something light and pink, it’s great because it gives you a different face, you know?”
Those pinks ranged from a pastel, filmy pink shirt dress — very short — to suits with floral accents, to longer slip dresses. She also worked with “techno fabric” to achieve, in some garments, a pleated effect. “It gives the idea that it’s pleated and at the same time it is very seductive, sensual, transparent, (but) not vulgar.”
Herrera noted that in every collection, she seeks an element of mystery. “You cannot be going out naked,” she said. “No mystery in that.”
—Jocelyn Noveck
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WET AND WILD AT TOMMY HILFIGER
Models splashed in a lagoon surrounded by a sandy boardwalk to end Tommy Hilfiger’s ode to easy island life.
Looking to add some youthful oomph to the heritage brand, Hilfiger built a wooden boardwalk ringed by sand, hung a hammock and constructed a tiki bar in front of a faux sunset. He sent his models out in multicolored hats and billowy dresses adorned with flora and fauna inspired by textile artist Josef Frank.
The idea was to vibe off the Caribbean’s Mustique, a playground for rock stars and royalty. And to pay attention to young customers.
A limited-edition silk bomber jacket embroidered with a lion on the back was made available for purchase instantaneously.
“We basically went back to our roots and made that relevant for today. We decided to really look at our DNA and celebrate who we are as a brand,” Hilfiger said in a backstage interview before the show. “When we started doing that our business just took off again. We elevated everything: the quality, the fit, and we really focused on listening to the customer.”
With new designers sprouting and social media offering a quicker road to success, Hilfiger said his focus is clear.
“Fun, youthful, unique and memorable. It keeps us really on our toes. We should never become complacent, never sit back and relax. We have to keep thinking of the next, the newest, the next, the newest,” he said.
Among the top models on hand in bikinis to help that happen was Gigi Hadid as Victoria Secret’s Behati Prinsloo romped on the front row before showtime in one of the company’s new bomber jackets. Joe Jonas was there, along with Princess Beatrice of York.
On the runway, Hilfiger reinvented the traditional cricket sweater in crochet and polos in netted mesh. T-shirt dresses were done in multicolored leather and traditional Oxford shirts were treated to some patchwork trim.
And for the feet? Comfy, colored mules all around.
—Leanne Italie
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‘CELEBRATING MISTAKES’ AT OPENING CEREMONY
It’s every designer and model’s worst nightmare: To trip while walking the runway during fashion week.
That’s exactly what happened, over and over, on Sunday evening at Opening Ceremony’s show. The audience gasped as the first model took a tumble, but by the time the third “model” fell, most realized the stumbles were actually calculated.
You see, some of the models were not models at all, but rather New York City Ballet dancers.
“This was to challenge the idea of the runway show and runway stride of models. It’s an idea of not always trying to catch up and not being afraid to make mistakes,” designer Humberto Leon said. “They always got back into their place. It’s an idea of making it about how these girls do it. … It’s celebrating mistakes in life.”
The collaboration is fitting considering the label is designing costumes for the ballet. Resident choreographer Justin Peck even choreographed the dance for their runway show.
So, was Leon concerned the theatrics would make the audience, which included Kylie Jenner and boyfriend Tyga, Laverne Cox and Jessica Alba, focus on just the dancing and not the clothes?
Not a chance. “The audience was a part of this,” Leon said. “We wanted the participation of the audience. You didn’t know if they were falling. This is a cross conversation of life. We got to share this special thing I’ve been working on this audience.”
—Alicia Quarles
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MONKS AND PRAYER AT PRABAL
It was an incongruous sight, even for New York Fashion Week, but a very moving one. With a who’s who of A-list Hollywood actresses in the front row, Prabal Gurung opened his runway show with 30 Buddhist monks who had traveled to New York to chant a prayer of gratitude for the world’s help during the devastating earthquake that killed thousands in Gurung’s native Nepal in April.
“When the earthquake happened, the first people that came to our rescue in Nepal was the fashion industry here, and I wanted to show some kind of gratitude to them,” Gurung said after Sunday evening’s show. “I go and visit the monastery (in Nepal) all the time, and I had this idea, and they wanted to do it.”
The entire runway show was dedicated to Nepal, with garments in shades of lemon, saffron, peach, tea rose and other variations of orange and yellow. There was barely a dark color in the mix. Especially effective were lovely white dresses embroidered in orange and yellow, and filmy chiffon evening gowns that floated down the runway. There was also some fringe and sparkle in the mix.
Gurung had a lot of celebrity support: His front row included actresses Jennifer Hudson, Hailee Steinfeld, Laverne Cox from “Orange is the New Black,” Kylie Jenner, and Solange Knowles.
Cox was wearing a bright blue Gurung creation. “I’ve just started working with Prabal,” she said. “It’s pretty cool. All of a sudden I am here, wearing his stuff at his show.”
Gurung said he hoped the world would learn a little bit about Nepal. “All I wanted to do is show a little of where I’m from,” he said, “and show it to the rest if the world. I hope they’ll be enticed to go visit, because that’s what Nepal needs right now.”
—Jocelyn Noveck
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