Threats of coronavirus, event cancellations and controversies aside, the four major fashion weeks concluded safely in early March. While most updates from the runways were buried under other, more pressing news, some designers and brands still managed to make headlines with their out-of-the-box designs and impactful shows.
Globetrotter compiles our favorite fashion week highlights from New York, London, Milan and Paris.
Sandy Liang
Arguably today's coolest designer and New York native Sandy Liang has been shaking up the fashion industry lately. Sandy is known for always incorporating her Chinese roots and scenes from her childhood in her designs. Her Fall/Winter 2020 collection, though, hinted at a more mature side of her, with clothes that were more sophisticated and practical than her previous creations. Still, we're glad to see Sandy hasn't lost her childlike quality, as evidenced by the anime eye prints that appeared in some of the pieces.
LaQuan Smith
Ten years after his New York Fashion Week (NYFW) debut, LaQuan Smith has come to remind everyone why he's one of the most exciting designers in the industry. For his Fall/Winter 2020 offering, LaQuan stayed true to his "unapologetically sexy" principal, delivering an all-black collection with sensual and feminine silhouettes that no one but him could conjure.
AREA
Vogue describes AREA's Fall/Winter 2020 collection as "a boundary-free globalism." Designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk seemed to be inspired by anything and everything they've encountered around the world, from the works of French couturier Madame Grès and Japanese postcards to African weaving techniques.
The collection had more than one connection to Africa. Starting this season, the brand has formed a partnership with The Africa Center, where the fashion show took place. The proceeds from the collaboration will be used to benefit the non-profit organization’s effort to highlight African craft and culture in the United States.
Yuhan Wang
This season's London Fashion Week (LFW) opened with Yuhan Wang. Originally from China and trained at Central Saint Martin, Yuhan draws inspiration from the traditional Chinese idea of femininity and Western culture, and her designs tend to walk the line between coverage and exposure. It's no wonder that, for her first stand-alone show at LFW, she presented a collection that was inspired by the fashion in the Victorian era, when modesty was heavily imposed on women. Yuhan also brilliantly fused the collection with her Chinese heritage by adding symbols such as goldfish and rosebuds into the pieces.
Alighieri
Princess Anne presenting the 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to Rosh Mahtani
One of the hottest names to come out of LFW this season is Alighieri, a jewelry brand that won the coveted 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. The jewelry line was recognized for not only its beautiful handmade, gold-plated designs, but also its sustainability efforts.
The founder, Rosh Mahtani, is a Londoner of Indian descent who was raised in Zambia. After learning about Dante's Divine Comedy at Oxford, Rosh became fascinated with the idea of bringing his philosophy into life and created Alighieri as a result. For Alighieri's latest collection, though, Rosh was influenced by the work of another poet: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. Made from recycled materials, the new collection is the outcome of a regeneration process, much like the theme of the poem itself.
Gucci
With the growing outbreak of coronavirus in Italy, it's understandable that Milan Fashion Week seemed a bit subdued. Even so, Gucci still managed to make a grand spectacle.
The show featured a circular transparent runway that rotated during the show. Sixty models could be seen inside it, being prepped in real-time by Gucci's design team who were dressed in gray uniforms labeled with "Façonnier de Rêves" (Dream Maker). Overall, it might be the most creative fashion show this season.
Kenneth Ize
Kenneth Ize unveiled his collection at Paris Fashion Week (PFW) for the first time ever, and what a debut it was! More than a fashion show, it was an introduction to Kenneth and his design ethos. A Nigerian who grew up in Austria, Kenneth sewed the cultures that have brought him up into his clothes. He paired Viennese lace with Nigeria's traditional asoke fabric, which also appeared in his previous collections, creating strikingly-colored and well-tailored pieces that made his inaugural PFW show worth the wait.
Dior
Dior put up an alarming show that also doubled as a celebration of feminism and the #MeToo movement. Statements such as "Consent" and "Women Raise the Upraising" hung from the ceiling; each letter spelled out by a neon light, courtesy of Claire Fontaine, a French art collective.
Dior's Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri is a certified feminist, so we've seen similarly female-empowering shows in the past. But this one was made special because it was held just one day after Harvey Weinstein was declared guilty. Neither the designer or Claire Fontaine could have known about the show's opportune timing, so was it a coincidence or a divine intervention? Either way, we're happy.
Yeezy
After bringing his weekly Sunday Service to Paris, Kanye West made another splash in the city when he unveiled Yeezy's Season 8 collection at PFW, and he owed it all to his daughter and the show's musical guest, North West.
This marked Kanye's return to PFW, which was a celebration in itself. But as the show went on, and the audience was treated to a beige-dominated collection consisting of crop tops, big puffer jackets and leggings, one couldn't help but feel like everything has all happened before. That was until six-year-old North made her rap debut and officially closed the show. Love it or hate it, at least North offered something new.
Comme des Garçons
Amidst the uncertainty that surrounded PFW and the world in general, it was somewhat reassuring to see Comme des Garçons still sticking to the brand's usual weirdness.
The Fall/Winter 2020 collection was an out-of-this-world, futuristic, unprecedented offering, which was born out of designer Rei Kawakubo's desire to create something new. “Is it impossible to make something completely and utterly new, since we are all living in this world?” asks Rei in a statement about the collection. The answer, when it comes to her and Comme des Garçons, is yes.
Images c/o Sandy Liang, AREA, London Fashion Week, Alighieri, Adrien Dirand/Dior
