Design sets aren’t just backdrops to the clothes/models/front-row celebs at the shows each season. Chris ong curates the most arresting and thought- provoking ones of s/s ’17 that are inspired by, or aspire towards, art.
Design sets aren’t just backdrops to the clothes/models/front-row celebs at the shows each season. Chris ong curates the most arresting and thought- provoking ones of s/s ’17 that are inspired by, or aspire towards, art.
PRADA
The set: an architectural configuration of metal mesh built over last season’s set (one could see it between the grills). Flickering on 12 screens overhead: American Hustle director David O. Russell’s celluloid images of women undressing. For all the sensory overload, the collection was surprisingly simple by Miuccia Prada’s standards – and the industrial-meets-futuristic surroundings underscored this: black turtlenecks with graphic print hot pants, more vintage motifs on fit-and-flare dresses, and feather-trimmed cheongsam tops with matching pants. Says the designer: “I decided to take care of now, the present, and try to find elegance.” She certainly did.
CELINE
LOEWE
As with every season, artworks (this time by Edmund de Waal and Gaetano Pesce) dot the show space located at Paris’ Unesco building, turning it into an art collector’s living room. The main highlight this time, though, was Dutch artist Magali Reus’ film Offshore, which played on loop and showed two men swimming, fetching barrels from the sea – and for good reason. The S/S ’17 Loewe woman is on an oceanside getaway. Tasteful but homely, she lives in roomy cotton smocks and frayed linen dresses, and – like the brand’s creative director J.W. Anderson – has a love for mixing fashion with contemporary art.
BOSS
David Hockney’s a fave muse to the designers: Tom Ford, Christopher Bailey, and now Jason Wu and Boss’ set designers, Chameleon Visual. The London-based firm transformed last season’s runway light fixtures into pulsing plates that lined the wall, and paid tribute to the artist’s signature use of splashy primary colours (the same hues livened up the ’90s minimalist chic clothes). The result is like an oversized LED pixel painting – clever, economical, eco-friendly.
KENZO
The venue was Paris’ Cite de l’Architecture museum; its archways flanked by ornate Romanesque sculpture. But that didn’t stop creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon from casting a motley crew of dancers, comedians and even a midwife to play living statues, standing still while models in camo separates, photo print tees and paillette-swathed minidresses strode past. A tribute to fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and the spirit of disco a la Studio 54, the collection was one of the brand’s sexiest, but still PG-rated when displayed next to the live art – most of the “statues” were naked (though you can’t see that here).
DRIES VAN NOTEN
