NYFW SS18: Alexander Wang by j- No Via Flickr: SoHo Manhattan NYC Sept.9, 2017
For his Spring/Summer 2018 show, Alexander Wang took it to the streets. Literally. The streets of SoHo, to be specific. The grand spectacle, labeled #WANGFEST, was also his announcement that he had joined the growing roster of A-list designers who have bolted from the NYFW circus of errors run by IMG.
Normally, any motor vehicle, even light-running crackhead cabbies, cannot navigate the traffic jam downtown on a Saturday night. But Alexander Wang is not a normal person, is he? To all but fashion week insiders (like NYTCAP's Team NovaLex), this appeared to be a guerilla staging, but obviously, it was not. An army of technical staff and security team had set up the DJ riser and concert-level PA system. Klieg lights were already beaming before his late arrival, and NYPD and the City of New York were on hand to make sure his long, wide 'runway' was kept clear of the Instagramming mobs.
Kaia Gerber was the first model to emerge, her sprint no doubt quickened by the slight damp nip in the air. She wore a clingy white scoop-neck mid-calf dress adorned with a silvery snakeskin-patterned rope-like semi-belt hanging to one side.
There were no look sheets available, but after sorting through the photos, it seems there were 32 in total. Over half wore dark pants or leggings along with mostly sleeveless tops in white or robin's egg blue. A lot of black and gray combos, the blue being the only color in the entire collection, except for a flash of red spotted among the handful of handbags. Some oddities included jeans with one black leather leg and the other blue denim, and a pair of jean cutoffs over leather pants. A bit of a fashion fail on those. The best overall description was shabby chic, perfect for ... a Saturday night out in SoHo!
After the finale, the last to board another tour bus at the end of the street. The man of the moment himself made a quick walk and wave, then turned back and reboarded his own transport. Show over? No way. The troupe of troopers then did it all over again on Astor Place and then again in Bushwick! I hope Wang's models got paid triple for the ordeal.
After that, the afterparty(-ies), no doubt. However, we had to miss them (aside from not being able to find out where it was, in time) in order to try to crash Off-White's party, then on to the Philip Plein melee in midtown, along with several thousand other hopefuls.
#WANGFEST #alexanderwang #nyfw #ss18 #fashion
