Fashion Week During the Apocalypse, Part Two
This week, pharm guest blogger Molly Crabapple pops by to bring you the Coilhouse Guide to Fashion Week During The Apocalypse. Below is Part Two – Anatomy of Fashion Week. Molly talks about the shows, and the swag and the social nuance. See Part One here.
There are several ways to experience New York Fashion Week. The first is as a worker in the fashion industry. I imagine this must be endlessly frustrating, as the entire week exists to overwork everyone and show them just where they stand in the pecking order. A more amusing, if sociopathic alternative, is to look at “Crashin’ Week” as a giant video game, in which you, a fah-bulous Super Mario, steal swag bags, elbow your way VIP parties, and plant your proletarian ass into aristocratic seats. Third: you can watch the spectacle of it all. It’s really interesting.
During New York Fashion Week, I got invited to Duckie Brown, Mackage, and Venexiana shows inside the tents. I also checked out Project Runway winner Leanne Marshell’s new collection, was a “VIP” during Williamsburg Fashion Weekend, and spent considerable time sipping McCafe in the press lounge.
Were I a super villain, Mackage would clothe my henchwomen. Oh those sleek coats!
Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
Models were all styled like futuristic gigolos and robot sex ninjas – with high ponytails and black netting stretched over the girls faces. I feel a new club look coming on. Click below for much, much more, including a summary of what Fashion Week has taught me!
Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
Project Runway winner Leanne Marshall really deserved to win.
Photos by Edward Colelli
Her presentation featured elaborately tucked, sculptural dresses, including a sweeping black ball gown sported by a Tilda Swinton look-alike and a grey coat straight out of the Little Princess.
Photo by Edward Colelli
This season, Duckie Brown went with dust masks, puffballs on the models heads and lots of Guantanamo orange. Despite this, they still had many rocking pieces, including a patent leather trench coat that could teach Lip Service a thing or two.
The Venexiana show was a bit of a purple lit club-scene. Think thumping bass and tuxedo clad bouncers. But when the lights slam on, all is forgotten. Venexiana can really make ball gowns. The show alternates between ethereal white poofy dresses and bitchy black-clad dommes. Combine that with the identical ballerina buns all the models were sporting, and it starts to seem like a version of Swan Lake – albeit one where Odile wins in the end.
Images courtesy of Zimbio.com ©2009 Frazer Harrison at Getty Images for IMG
Some of the lessons learned during my first Fashion Week experience:
Despite the fun that can (and should!) be poked at Fashion Week, it’s a legitimately exciting spectacle. Like the potlatches thrown by indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest, Fashion Week represents the ultimate immolation of effort and beauty in return for status down the road. As the music starts- as the blinding lights turn on- as that first model walks down the runway- you can’t help but be slightly thrilled you’re allowed to experience it.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I dont see anything so apacalyptic about any of this.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
drea, you’re right, it’s not apparent without context, but Molly explains the “Apocalypse” angle in Part 1 of this 2-part post:
February 27th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hey, hey, hey — let’s stay chipper about the whole business, shall we? I’m sure everything’s going to be better by September. Seriously. No apocalypse coming, everyone go back to your business.
February 27th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I agree with Cappy.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
[…] music. Molly is the featured artist right now. Also, you can check out her fashion week coverage at Coilhouse, if you’re into that sort of thing (which I so […]
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Well done Molly well done! Great photos and interesting lessons for life… charm those 19 year olds and battle the insectine dragon! Wish I could have gone with you :P I’m nervy… and tall… at least we could have sat in the corner and illustrated fashionistas and sleeker-than-thou types.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:50 am
That purple dress has me all starry-eyed. To be honest, most of the female fashions seem to dull in comparison to the male fashions this year. Not the ones featured in this blog, necessarily.
I buchered that word.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:25 am
@Cappy…many forget Apocalypse is just as much about rebirth as it is about total destruction. Worst case scenario we form a Coilhouse Commune in some out of the way part of the world…live off the land…or magazines…or the internet. We can eat that now right? Something though. It’s not like we’d go all Lord of the Flies and go primal right?…well Zo probably would. Gotta keep an eye on that girl.
All in all I really enjoyed these pair of posts. It was a snippet of course but it was digestible. Good focus on stuff I’d probably have to wade through dozens of other designers to get to. The Men’s stuff continues to disappoint though…it’s either for the skinny pretty boy type of the “hey I want to be a walking piece of art LOOK AT ME” type. Not really either of those…
The Odyn Vovk stuff however was the most “wearable” of the stuff I’ve seen so far. I dug the face masks and color choices…the men’s stuff in that collection was the right vibe.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Tequila, since you mentioned it… 2012, Iceland, me and a small group of people WILL gather to see whether the predictions are true. Lord of the flies scenario highly probable.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
@Zo…Hey that sounds like fun. If I had to be anywhere for the Day of Doom Iceland sounds like a perfect fit…or New Zealand. If the Lord of the Flies thing does go down…remember Iceland has those special horses of theirs. Summon your inner Genghis Khan and show no mercy!