New York Fashion Week is almost all over; the designers have shown their collection, we’ve oohed and gasped at the clothes and read all about the gossip and after parties. So here is my definitive rundown of the week, in handy little bites for you.
I’ll do a quick rundown of the best shows from New York, some of the greatest street style photos, backstage images of the shows, who to follow on Instagram, the WTF moments from NYFW and of course which were the hottest parties there. To make it a little easier for you, I’ve broken this post down into sections with links to the relevant part of the page.
- The key shows of New York Fashion Week
- The best of New York street style
- Backstage and behind-the-scenes images
- Marc Jacobs’ Gloss party
- The best Instagram accounts for fashion week
- WTF moments at NYFW
- The hottest parties for NYFY
Enjoy it all, because this post is a mouthful. 🙂
THE KEYS SHOWS OF NEW YORK FASHION WEEK
Jeremy Scott – Barbie kitsch
At Jeremy Scott it was all about the big, 60’s hair back-combed to within an inch of its life in peroxide shades. The clothes were made of bright lurex materials, cartoon prints on neon clothes, plastic accessories and lots of kitsch. This collection paid homage to 60’s era B-movies and an obsession with sci-fi as can be seen in his use of paillettes and ray gun prints. A fun collection to be had all around.
Diane von Furstenberg – Studio 54 meets the beach
This collection is a dream for anyone in love with the disco side of the seventies trend. Diane von Furstenberg is single handedly keeping the seventies trend going for a fourth consecutive season with these gorgeous Grecian dresses in bold primary colours, scarf prints and pastel chiffons ready for the beach. The flouncy 70’s hair adorned with gorgeous silk floral hair clips will have you desperate to recreate the look and there are enough variations of the pink shade to keep even the most girly-girl happy.
Tommy Hilfiger – Jamaican island dream
What do you get when you mix Rastafarian colours with an island dream? Tommy Hilfiger’s latest collection for spring/summer 2016 that is. With plenty of crochet dresses in primary colours, colourful flat sneakers and adorably striped beanie hats; this is a fresher collection than his usual offerings. Led by model-of-the-moment Gigi Hadid and debuting her little sister Bella, it’s no wonder this collection’s showing got so much attention from the press. What’s not to love about it?
Alexander Wang – Celebrating a decade
For Alexander Wang’s spring/summer 2015 collection it was all about celebrating his tenth year running his own brand. In other words it was quintessentially Wang through and through, in other words street cool that was a little rough around the edges and the antithesis of of glossy Upper East side New York glamour. The collection featured biker jackets, khaki utility wear, lots of mesh and silk slip dresses grunged up in chain sandals and heavy bomber jackets. All in all, it was a collection suited perfectly to his customer base and the show ended on a high as the man himself lapped up the cheers and congratulations with a run down the catwalk.
Givenchy – Romantic bride and groom
For spring/summer Riccardo Tisci not only caused quite an upheaval in the House of Givenchy when he moved the traditional Parisian brand to New York, he done it with a vastly more soft and romantic collection than we’ve come to expect from him in the last few years. For this collection, he created a juxtaposition of masculine and feminine aspects of tailoring. The collection is all about romance and Tisci tackled both the groom and bride’s outfits in his collection, matching strong tuxedo jackets and smart black trousers with white silk dresses and blouses adorned with heavy lace detailing. This is topped off with some exquisite lace and pearl face masks, that were much softer than last season’s face masks. Overall this is one of the most feminine and soft collections Tisci has done in a while and my feeling is it’ll be very popular with the editors and on the high street.
Rodarte – Fashion decade mash-up
If you’re not quite sure to which decade Rodarte’s spring/summer 2016 collection belongs to, don’t worry you’re not the only one. It seems to have half a foot stick in the disco era of the seventies and the other in the OTT glamour of the eighties, but as usual the Mulleavey sisters pull off this mash-up with near perfection. Their lace dresses and silver Go-go boots are a fantastic combination, as are some of the more heavily embroidered and beaded lace dresses they sent down the runway. The collection was also made up off lurex shimmering jackets and trousers, skinny scarves, fur jackets and some Victorian elements in their high necked blouses. The end result is a mixture of seventies chic and a hint of fantasy, and that is what they do best. There’s no doubt in my mind this collection is doing to influence a lot of high street shops for spring.
THE BEST OF NEW YORK STREET STYLE
Here’s a collection of some of the best street style from New York. Prepare to drool over some of the outfits on display and see how many famous faces you can identify.
Images courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar US
Backstage and behind-the-scenes images
While most of the world’s attention is on the collections being shown on the runway, often some of the best images come from backstage and the various parties happening throughout New York in honour of fashion week. Here are some of the best images I could find.
Marc Jacobs’ Gloss party
So, was the party that had so much hype and the most hilarious dress code with the invitation, worth all the buzz? Well the pictures below do make it seem like it was an absolutely raucous party, with plenty of nudity, drag queens and the odd starlet that looked tame compared to some of the party-goers outfits. fashionista.com attended the party, and while so much fuss was made in the media about the dress code, it turns out it wasn’t that strictly enforced, but it did set the tone for a fabulously decadent party.
The best Instagram accounts for Fashion Week
Want to see more fashion week images, but don’t know who to follow on Instagram? Here are my favourite Instagram accounts to follow for all the best fashion week pictures.
@fashion_week – The official fashion week Instagram account; chocked full of behind the scenes images and detail shots of New York Fashion Week. What’s best is that this account covers all the major fashion weeks so you don’t need to find a new account for when the fashion world moves on to London, Milan and Paris.
@nytimesfashion – When it comes to New York, you have to follow the New York Times’ Fashion account. They are the authority on all fashion news and events in New York and they have some fabulous images like this one here from Givenchy’s after party
@karliekloss – Out of all the models to follow, my personal favourite is Karlie Kloss as she comes across as a real hoot. Here she is pulling faces with her dog and her mum. What’s not to love?
@anna_dello_russo – The most outrageous of all the fashion crowd no doubt has to be Anna Dello Russo. Always worth a follow just for her wacky outfits and celeb hangouts.
@evachen212 – Former Lucky editor Eva Chen has a fantastic eye for fashion and detail, as you can see in this quirky image. Definitely worth a follow, just to see something different.
@caroissa – Caroline Issa, the executive director of Tank magazine, and a perennial favourite on the street style scene, she has an unusual eye for fashion and a serious sense of humour. What more could you want?
@tommyton – Tommy Ton, one of the most recognised street style photographers; he is always backstage at the best shows and parties and he has a genuine talent when it comes to photography that makes him beloved by all.
@telegraphfashion – when it comes to British fashion, the Telegraph fashion team is the best to follow. They’re not quite on the pulse in New York, but come London Fashion Week they will be in their element and this will be the Instagram account to watch.
@margaret__zhang – Margaret Zhang, a fashion blogger with writing, styling and photography under her belt is a new favourite of mine and her Instsagram account is actually updated regularly during fashion week. Well worth a visit.
WTF moments at NYFW
- Both Opening Ceremony and Givenchy had models tumbling on the runway. Oh dear! But there always has to be one every season.
- Givenchy gave away free tickets to his show to the public. Roberto Tisci showing that as a designer he’s a great leveller. He actually managed to bring the public and the fashion elite together.
- Kylie Jenner’s security detail got a little pushy and desperate to leave the venue after the Opening Ceremony show was over, so that they pushed Jessica Alba out of the way, according to reports from New York Post’s Page Six. Uh oh, someone had better tell the teenager and her hired goons to respect and not push people older, wiser and more important than her out of her way.
- Victoria Beckham is taking quite a lot of criticism from the press and social media for choosing incredibly skinny young models; and while it might be easy to attack the designer here, it’s worth noting that the entire industry has a problem with size. But that’s no fun when people want a good scandal.
- Kanye West has gone and upset quite a lot of people again. He just announced a couple of days ago that he would be making a surprise showing of season 2 of Kanye West X Adidas Originals Collection. The problem is he never told the CFDA, the governing fashion body for America running NYFW, and he’s also now clashing with a couple of designers, who are unhappy with having their slot in a tightly packed schedule taken by an upstart who was always going to get more press than them.
- Kim Kardashian and Courtney Love struck up the most unlikely of friendships at the Givenchy after party, which really needs a moment to sink into your brain. Possibly the most square woman on the planet befriending a rocker, whose more crazy and done more drugs than anyone can imagine becoming friends is like something out of the Twilight zone. Only at NYFW!
The hottest parties for nyfw
Here is a rundown of the hottest parties for New York Fashion Week. Be prepared to be very jealous.
- The week started off with Rihanna throwing a block party at the New York Edition Hotel, where the hostess herself seemed in fantastic spirits, though you did learn pretty quickly not to mess with her as a creep learned the hard way when she tore into him in public. In attendance were Wiz Khalifa, Jeremy Scott and Pharrell among others.
- Moncler held a candlelit dinner at the New York Public Library on the first night, which had Calvin Klein, Terry Richardson, Clive Owen, Ruth Wilson, Lewis Hamilton, Kenneth Cole and Lorraine Schwartz in attendance.
- Over at Red Bull Studios in Chelsea, Dazed magazine held a party inside a new installation by the artists Jonah Freeman, Justin Lowe and Jennifer Herrema, with a Rose McGowan who seemed to get lost in an old closet full of trinkets. Also in attendance was Sky Ferreira.
- Then there was Marc Jacobs’ party in a recreated version of the iconic New York club Tunnel for the book “Gloss: The Work of Chris von Wangenheim.” No point mentioning more on it as I already went into quite a bit of detail above.
- For day 2 one only real after party happening was for Givenchy’s New York showing at a downtown rave in a converted parking garage featuring an array of celebrities from Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Steve Tyler with his daughters Chelsea and Liv, Courtney Love, Hailee Steinfeld, Karen Elson, Laverne Cox and Naomi Campbell. Revellers sipped champagne in cars that were installed throughout the space, there were over 2,000 guests in attendance and the entire second floor had been converted into a VIP area because of the amount of celebrities.
- On the third night Alexander Wang celebrated a decade of his brand in business with an after party that was strip-club themed and modelled after a famous strip club in Miami called King of Diamonds. It was again a veritable who’s who of celebrities here from Lady Gaga, Bryan Boy, ASAP Rocky and Lil Wayne . No expense was spared for this party as ten dollar bills were printed with Alexander Wang’s head on them, ice sculptures celebrated his 10 years in the business and he had an array of rappers and R&B stars performing from Tinashe to Ludacris.
- For the fourth night Michael Kors launched a new Gold perfume with a suitable party that featured Mario Testino, Naomi Campbell and Kate Upton among others and Duran Duran performed towards the end of the night.
- Opening ceremony also had their after party that night with Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba and a whole bunch of downtowners enjoying the raucous party.
- For the fifth night Mariah Carey joined a hot of celebrities for a dance party hosted by W magazine. Also there were Zac Posen and Kelly Osbourne.
- The Kardashian/Jenner clan were out in full force for Galore magazine’s party for fashion week where they honoured Kylie Jenner as their new cover star. In attendance was half of the clan and it was held at the Up & Down club.
- For the sixth night there was an after party for the premiere of the documentary “Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer,”, which was held at the Provocateur nightclub in the Meatpacking district. It was drag queen central with quite a few runway models in the mix and even a very camera-shy Leonardo di Caprio, no doubt looking for his next model girlfriend.
