Editor’s note: This story was submitted for publication Fall 2018. This is a late upload.
By: Courtney Thatcher
Fashion Week is an international event that every designer wishes to be part of. They work endlessly to make the upcoming season’s catalogs and trending list. This year, at New York Fashion Week (NYFW), showed no difference but it did hold new designs that sold more than new colors and styles to the eager eyes.
The schedule for fashion week was as busy as ever, but one fashion run during the week full of events had heads turning. On Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne made politics the theme of their collection. Their designs sported slogans and not-too-hidden hints toward President Donald Trump’s administration. The collection seemed to send hit after hit with sweatshirts printed with “We Need Leaders” across the back and the election trademark red hat with “Make America Great Again” changed to say, “Make America New York.” These little statements seemed to have more effect after the previous day’s appearance of President Trump’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, to Taoray Wang’s show on Sept. 8, 2018. The political theme not seeming to slow there.
Heading into the event of the season, political themes were already assumed to be at the forefront of every designer’s mind and lead the question from “I wonder if designers will be political with their shows,” to, “What will that look like?” Designers answered that question. The Fall/Winter collection was challenged by a lot of equality debate with the opening theme being Creatures of Comfort but soon turned into each of their own political commentary. The opening piece of the labeled show was a t-shirt that read, “We Are All Human Beings” meant to take a jab at President Trump’s seemingly endless debate on foreign immigrants. Other pieces followed suit with more t-shirts, one reading, “Feminist AF.”
The political scene wasn’t the only hot topic. Marc Jacobs made another appearance on the runway with his Candyland collection, an hour and a half later than the scheduled time. The old comeback of poor punctuality almost a reminiscent moment for those who eagerly awaited one of the top collections of the week’s events. The setback causing one of the biggest upsets of the whole affair, due to the crunch time between his set and another popular collection. His late start was not one to disappoint though with pieces of his collection resembling last season’s 80’s theme. The collection seemed to explode in candy colors and ruffles that seemed to make up for the lack of promptness from the infamous designer.
Jacobs collection wasn’t the spotlight of NYFW. Rihanna stole the limelight with the release of her lingerie collection ‘Savage x Fenty’. The musician/actress made her design stardom by her lack of designer training and unique show of diversity. The line featured deep-V body suits and plenty of pasties worn by women of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. This step towards unique qualities is one of the few times plus sized models have been featured on the NYFW runway. Taking the show one step closer to redesigning the look of fashion.Though the controversy of politics was evident and clashed with the uprising form of unity and equality, the F/W18 events all ran with a smoothness that many weren’t expecting. Bright pastels and feathered heels the new upcoming seasons look and future events’ features. New York Fashion Week 2019 is set to kick-off on Feb. 8, 2019 and run through Feb. 16, 2019.
Sources:
https://www.elle.com/runway/g23062788/rihannas-savage-x-fenty-show-2019/
https://fashionweekonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/FWO-NYFW-Schedule-Sept2018_Sept5.pdf
