New York Fashion Week took place from September 7 to September 14. The NYFW shows allow for designers to showcase their collections on a global stage. While some collections are made to be sold to consumers and fashion lovers, others are a little strange and are meant to be avant garde or purely an art form. While many of these are strange and clearly not meant to be worn, there is a whole other subgenre of fashion shows that are straight up strange. From clothing falling apart, to models dressed up as sharks in business suits, some companies are using the runway as a platform to create a performance, and critique the fashion industry and our world.
A few days ago, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed (as one does) and came across a video from a runway show. To my shock (and horror?) the model was dressed in an oversized gray pinstripe blazer and matching pencil skirt, hot pink tights, black heels, and to top it all off, a pinstripe shark head and a briefcase filled with money. All of this coupled with the oddest runway walk I have ever seen. After watching this odd video, I decided to dig around and figure out what was going on. The piece was designed by Lennart Krause for his collection at Neo Fashion during Berlin Fashion Week. The designer explained that the collection is called “Fever Dreams of an Orphan Boy”. The collection was meant to be a parody of class-hierarchies and he wanted to reimagine the business suite in a child-like and satirical way. He wanted the piece to make everyone question the actual seriousness of the people in power, hence the odd movements and seemingly random pink tights.
Another fashion show that has been catching people’s eyes is AVAVAV’s ‘Fake it til you break it’ Autumn/Winter 2023 collection. The show starts off seemingly normal. Their collection has a mixture of outfits that are avant garde and clothes that are seemingly normal for everyday wear. That is until everything starts to fall apart. First, it starts with a broken heel or strap and it increasingly becomes more drastic. Accessories, sleeves, and eventually full outfits start falling off the models until the finale, when the entire wall comes falling down as the designer and creative director, Beate Karlsson, walks down the aisle. In an interview with Hypebeast, Karlsson said, “I’ve been asking myself; why is luxury so serious?… The last collection was all about keeping up a fake projection of wealth and the personal failure of losing face when this illusion crashes. I’m still on that theme… I asked myself; what is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a fashion house and I figured garments breaking might be it.” Her show was a way to critique both what we consider luxury fashion and the current fast fashion industry, in a way that was unforgettable.
If you’re someone who doesn’t keep up with the latest fashion shows, it can be so easy to see videos like these and write them off as stupid when you see the clearly unwearable outfits. But just like art, books, and music, fashion shows can be used as a way for designers to create art and social commentary through their designs and runway shows. So before writing off these ridiculous shows, take a moment to see the meaning behind them because they are often much deeper than what meets the eye.