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NEW YORK, United States — His peers upped sticks for Paris this season, but Alexander Wang has been there, done that already. "Everyone's been questioning the relevance of New York, and what it's meant to stand for," the designer said pointedly,"so I wanted to send a love letter to the community that has supported me from day one."
His missal took the form of a mobile fashion show, #WANGFEST, with a busload of models touching down in two Manhattan locations and a grand finale in Brooklyn. Timings got a little loosey-goosey, and the crowd at the end of the line was kept waiting a lot longer than anyone wanted to be in Bushwick on a Saturday night, but the convoy left Wang’s Broadway HQ with the very best of intentions and that is, fortunately, where I encountered him.
Wang was not only re-thinking New York. “People are questioning the value of clothes, where to buy them, when to buy them,” he noted, “and look at how most people just dress in utilitarian sportswear, jeans, sweatshirts, bombers. But I believe the desire to shop is still there.” And that’s what Wang was hoping to satisfy with a collection which felt more on target than it has of late. He wanted a sense of play, like each model had styled herself, so there were lots of tricks,
And that's what Wang was hoping to satisfy with a collection which felt more on target than it has of late. He wanted a sense of play, like each model had styled herself, so there were lots of tricks, twists and knots that could be used in different ways: a man's blazer remodeled as pants, with the sleeves knotted casually round the waist, say, or t-shirts and dresses slashed or draped so that they could be manipulated to form new shapes. A perfecto jacket, re-imagined as a corset, was attached to a lace T. Wang re-introduced metal hardware, zippers and studs to bring back some of his old edginess. And Stephen Jones made coronets trimmed with black ostrich feathers, like party hats for positive times (though Kendall Jenner's did read HANGOVER). Wang was keen to communicate playfulness and positivity as a salute to his city. Now he would like a little love in return.
