As New York gears up for yet another season of Fashion Week in the coming months, the stakes are high with regard to what designers and creatives alike are expected to bring to the fashion table. As runway shows have dramatically soared in terms of creativity, two recent runway productions set an incredibly high standard for the future of fashion presentations—a standard which may not be met again.
Taking a trip down memory lane back to February, designers began to unveil their collections for Fall 2016; and two designers truly pushed the bounds of the traditional runway show: Hedi Slimane, who has since left Yves Saint Laurent (cry with me) and Kanye West.
While even the most traditional runway shows tend to leave a bit of cushion room for creative expression in terms of music, venue choices and set up, Yeezy Season 3 and the YSL collection turned the theatrics up several notches in a pretty good way. Both shows veered away from the expected “models-walk-down-the-runway-to-curated-music-and-strange-lighting” routine and, instead, opted for a much larger and slightly hectic production.
In L.A. last February, the YSL Fall 2016 show took over the Hollywood Palladium and basically doubled for an 80s rock and roll concert, complete with a star-studded guest list, a grunge-y fashion vibe from the collection itself and an actual rock and roll concert. About 11 performers were lined up for the YSL gig, including Father John Misty, Joan Jett and Beck, who took the stage following the final models.
According to GQ, Slimane even broke his usual routine and briefly greeted the audience. Whether or not the show was indicative of Los Angeles’ influence on Slimane over the past several years or if this was merely an opportunity for him to exit with a melodic bang, Slimane certainly left the fashion community wondering whether designers would begin to follow suit with intense performances—or if they would even try.
On the other hand, just a bit after YSL’s rock extravaganza, Kanye undoubtedly pulled a Kanye and blew everyone’s mind with Yeezy Season 3. Impressively taking over Madison Square Garden, which holds approximately 18,000 people, West dropped a new Yeezy collection and debuted a new album all in the same night.
Not only did West’s show change up the music game (with his own album no less) but his presentation also featured over 1,000 models. Several models were positioned on two large platforms while the rest gathered in the tight space below. It seems that only Kanye West could merge a rap concert, an album drop and a fashion show so seamlessly.
West also seemed to have set some pretty strict boundaries for his models when a snapchat of the performance rules surfaced on twitter, all of which seem a bit harder than the MCAT frankly.
As September quickly approaches, it’s hard to tell whether the next round of runway shows will level up in the way that Yeezy and YSL have.
The CFDA and New York Fashion Week have remained relatively steadfast in their approach to traditional fashion presentations in favor of the commercial side of fashion. Places like Milan and Paris have continued to embrace the more creative vision when it comes to the overall production. In fact, European fashion shows have seen a gradual increase in the number of designers opting for less-than-traditional venues to round out the aesthetics of the show.
As briefly mentioned earlier, the YSL and Yeezy shows have been marginally criticized for their slightly hectic nature, with some critics arguing that it’s difficult to focus on the fashion when there are a number of other simultaneous events and distractions. For the believers of fashion shows contributing to an overall story, however, the argument generally loses credibility if the show as a whole presents a cohesive vision.
Regardless of the event logistics, however, people will likely be on the edge of their seats to see a Slimane-less Saint Laurent, and it’s a given that Kanye will undoubtedly pull another Kanye and blow everyone’s mind to the tenth power once again. All in all, though, no one would be mad if every show came with a free concert, and as always, to each their own.
In this particular case, the words of Mr. West himself lend themselves to the defense of heightened creativity and a little craziness in the fashion realm: “I can’t let these people play me. Name one genius that ain’t crazy.”
