Escaping the runway
Fashion in New York is for models to mingle, not strut
Today , in downtown Manhattan, menswear designer Swaim Hutson of Obedient Sons will put on his first real fashion show in the city, employing a concept that seems anathema to all that New York Fashion Week is about.
Yes, models will be wearing his razor-sharp designs worthy of a rock star. (In fact, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt is the financial backer for the clothing line . ) But the models won't be strutting down a runway.
Instead, in what seems to be a growing trend among young designers keen to show off their overall creativity as well as their handiwork in more intimate settings, Hutson is staging a living diorama into which editors, photographers, buyers, and buzz-makers can walk.
The theme for Obedient Sons' fall collection is school-picture-day-somewhere-in-Europe.
"So we're setting the scene of a school house and off to one side we'll have a photo session going on. It's a situation where the guys who were ready in the morning and well dressed are now a bit grubbier because they've been hanging out waiting for these photos," Hutson says. "It's more of a party, mingling through and checking things out. But not as much pressure. Runway shows seem so pressure oriented and it's such a short time. This gives people an hour. I can play my music. I give more people an idea of what my brand's all about. With a runway show, if anything goes wrong you don't have much room to make up for the failure."
The kicker is that the production will cost Hutson about $30,000, compared with as much as $150,000 some of the big-name designers such as Bill Blass might spend on a Bryant Park tent show for 600 guests, many of whom will cool their stiletto heels in line for an hour before being allowed to take their assigned seats, where they will sit for another 30 minutes as photographers chronicle the outfits of the rich and famous in the front row. Then, and only then, will the guests be able to glimpse the clothes from a stadium seat 30 feet away from the ruffles and kerfuffle. Meanwhile, the whole affair has made them late for -- or outright absent from -- another show.
It's no wonder that the fashion "installation" concept, more like an open house than being part of a cattle call, is appealing to everyone involved.
"We've done this in LA for the last three years," says Lee Trimble, fashion director for Gen Art, a national events organization that showcases emerging talent in fashion, film, and visual arts. Tomorrow, Gen Art will show three designers -- Chrishabana, Geren Ford, and FORM -- all together, each with 20-foot-by-20-foot sets in a large open room, during a two-hour installation, a time frame that seems to be friendly to the audience (everyone gets a front-row look) as well as the models.
"For us to have models standing longer than that is difficult for them. They're hardy. They're used to doing 11-hour photo shoots. But standing on their high heels in one spot can be very trying."
Especially on an empty stomach.
"We feed our models," Trimble quipped.
However, it's not just emerging talent that is finding value in installations. In recent years designers such as Perry Ellis, Bruce , and Imitation of Christ have ditched runways for something more creative. Perhaps the most striking example of the trend came with Alexander McQueen's presentation for spring/summer 2005, when he staged a chess match in Paris: Knight in molded corset armor, pony-tailed headpiece, and saddlebag skirt; queen in a pink dress with bell sleeves, accessorized with a crown. An electronic voice dictated the moves.
As one British Vogue writer gushed at the time: "Checkmate!" 