THE
RUNWAY EDIT
EDIT
The Runway Edit: 2 e m FROM THE EDITOR Fashion, like any other artform, allows us to communicate current issues and movements in our society. This past Fashion Month, it wasn’t just the designs of the clothing that did the talking but also the structure (or lack thereof) of the shows and the fact the audience of these shows continues to grow as more and more people are exposed to the happenings of the fashion industry via social media. Trends on the runway looked to the not-so-distant past, drawing inspiration from the playful and sometimes excessive looks of the 2000s. In addition, head-to-toe denim looks were everywhere, silver is this season’s most beloved metallic and prints are most likely mixed. Aside from the trending designs, multiple events during Fashion Month, both on and off the runway, opened up a conversation on current issues of cultural appropriation. While the runways were their most diverse yet, the industry still has a
Volu
much work to do to balance racial, size, gender identity and age diversity. Social media played a major role in opening up a dialog on these issues as well as expanding the audience of the runway to anyone with access to the internet or a smartphone. The seasons are changing; many designers chose to go with seasonless collections or the see-now-buy-now model suggested by the Council of Fashion Designers of America last spring. Big name designers are increasingly joined by indie designers who are able to find exposure via creativity, social media and fresh ideas the long-established design houses have never considered. This season questioned many concepts and began to readjust structure that hasn’t changed much in decades. This is an exciting time for fashion; questioning and challenging the norm is what fashion thrives on.
Alexa Carlson, Fashion Editor
Publication Organization Layout and Design
Alexa Carlson, Fashion Editor Kenzie Bryant, Special Project Designer
CONTENT Street Style Diversity on the Runway Infographic Indie Runway Trending Cultural Appropriation Social Media
Ashley Ng, Fashion Editorial Assistant Kelsey Knepler, Fashion Writer Alexa Carlson, Fashion Editor Xinyi Wang, Fashion Writer Alexa Carlson, Fashion Editor Clarke Smith, Fashion Writer Ashley Mackens, Fashion Writer
STREET STYLE BLUES AND DENIM
NE YO
EW ORK
STREET STYLE WHITE OR COLLAR
STREET STYLE POPS OF PINK
L
STREET STYLE SWEATER WEATHER
LONDON
STREET STYLE DOWN TO EARTH
P
PARIS
STREET STYLE EDITOR’S STYLE
STREET STYLE RED, WHITE AND BOLD
STREET STYLE BLACK AND BLUE
MILAN
RACE
Diversity The world is made up of people of all races, sizes and ages. Why shouldn’t our runways reflect that? The Fashion Spot’s Diversity Report reviewed 299 shows from New York, Paris, Milan and London breaking down the distribution of models of color, plus size models, transgender models and models over 50 years old. This past season broke records for its diversity across runways but we still have a far way to go.
74.6%
on the Runwa
25.4%
WHITE MODELS MODELS OF COLOR
MODELS OF COLOR % NEW YORK 3 . 0 3 % 1 . 4 2 PARIS LONDON 23.5%.9%MILAN 20
5 shows ZERO models of color Junya Watanabe The Row Mila Schön Daniela Gregis Anrealage
STANDOUTS Yeezy Season 4 models of color
97%
Kimora Lee models of color 82% Simmons
3 OF THE 10 TOP BOOKED MODELS WERE OF COLOR
0
PLUS EUROPE SIZE
e ay
NEW YORK0.54%
ALL OF FASHION MONTH
% 8 0.1
TRANSGENDER
AGE
10
APPEARANCES OF TRANSGENDER MODELS AT FASHION MONTH
% 8 OF THE 10
TRANSGENDER MODELS WERE IN NEW YORK FASHION WEEK
OF ALL MODELS OF FASHION MONTH WERE
13 OVER THE AGE OF 50
All data from The Fashion Spot’s Diversity Report: Spring 2017
Uprising Designers Ikumi:
What happens when Japanese traditional culture collides with minimalism fashion spirit? The product is Ikumi. All the way from Tokyo, this Japanese brand has presented itself successfully on the runway of New York Fashion Week in recent years. The Spring/Summer 2017 collection featured models wearing Asian mythology inspired white face masks and monochromatic outfits in concise styles. The designer used the Ukio-e pattern, a genre of Japanese painting from the 17th century, on dresses and bikinis, combining Eastern and Western culture in the modern fashion world.
Misha Nonoo:
The designer launched her first NYFW 5 years ago and was a finalist in the 2013 Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund. You may have never heard of her name, but you’ve undoubtedly seen the likes of George Clooney and Irina Shayk wearing this American designer’s pieces. What was special about her runway show this year was that she presented her designs only on Snapchat. She took over Refinery 29’s Snapchat and called it the “first ever live lookbook.”
You Need to Know VFiles:
Young and talented and looking for a unique group of creators to work with? Go to VFiles. Aiming to encourage young designers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, VFiles RUNWAY7 again presented us with inspirational fashion designs that worth much attention. No matter it’s the elegant cross-dressing or sportswear covered in plastic or nylon anoraks, VFiles is subverting the traditional fashion aesthetic and creating its own uniqueness.
KYBOE!:
Putting accessories on the runway is a daunting task. Keeping the focus on the accessories is hard to execute. KYBOE! is a Netherland watch brand that represents adventures and a passion for life. In September, KYBOE! became the first watch company in history to host a runway show at NYFW. The watches came in vibrant colors from lagoon green and bright orange, It was an especially colorful and groundbreaking season for this booming watch brand.
TRENDIN M
L CO NI
CI
E MILLER
NI NA RIC
ALE XAN DER WANG
Black & White
MO NS E
CUSH NI EE T OCHES
BARBAR
RA ERRE INA H L O R CA
NG AB UI
VETEMENTS
VICT ORI A BE CKH AM
HOUSE OF HOL LA N D
2000s
TEM
P E R LY L O N D
ON
TOPSHO
ELI E SA AB
P UNIQUE
T EM
PERLY LONDON
ANDRE W GN
CIN
E PT 4 QAS
MARQUES ALMEIDA
Denim
RA
KAI IMH JONA THA N S
THERSTON
RR E
DI LORENZO SERA FINI
IN F E
PHILOS OPH Y
ER
HE CAROLINA
JONA AI THAN SIMHK
TON
AQU ILAN O RIM
BALMAIN
ERIN FETH ERS
ONDI
SALLY LAPOINTE
Silver
MON
L MARANT
IQUE LHUIL LIER
ISA BE
DENNIS BASSO
RD TOM FO
NINA RIC CI
CINQ A SEPT 2
BALMAIN
Mixed Patterns
MONSE
MU LBERRY
ISABEL M ARAN T
ROBERTO CAVALLI
N MA
RODART E
CK Y PA JENN
CHLOE
G NO
NA
Pop Art Florals
LELA ROSE
NAEEM KHAN
VI VIE NNE TAM
OLL MICHAEL KORS C
ECTION
Cultural Appropriation during Fashion Week:
As Told by Black Twitter
F
ashion Month is one of the most anticipated events of the fall. Us nondesigners, non-stylists and non-celebrities who can’t make it to the big cities drool over collections and street style from behind our smart phones, only wishing we were there. Each season, Fashion Month is iconic in its own way. This year, however, was one for the books. With everyone’s heightened awareness of racial issues and societal problems, “Black Twitter” seemed more ready than normal to call designers out on their wrongdoing. The tweets were complete with pictures and turned into threads explaining the issue and facts, or as Black Twitter likes to call them, “receipts.”
Although the African American community has always had an underlying influence within fashion, designers and celebrities, specifically those who aren’t of African descent, have become extremely comfortable with their “appreciation” of black culture, outwardly wearing and adapting components of black culture every day. This, however, isn’t the problem because African American’s know how to share. It becomes a problem when white women are praised for their looks and black women are deemed unprofessional, “ghetto” or even ugly for the exact same styles. White women play it off as “appreciation,” but you can’t just pick and choose the components of black culture you want to indulge in and those you want to ignore. “Everyone wants to be black, until it’s really time to be black,” is an anonymous saying that constantly runs through my head referring to the sizable absence of white people when issues stemming from oppression surface. For example, I, a black woman, become a stereotype in your eyes and an easy laugh when I indulge in the parts of my culture that weren’t accepted within mainstream American culture. Meanwhile the white woman to the left of me is getting praised for her “new” and “trendy” look when she does the same. It becomes a problem when others get praised for the same hairstyles and trends, that we get fired, or not even hired, for in the first place. You can’t glamorize our culture, stick a different name on it, call it yours and then proceed to be genuinely confused and/or dismissive of our feelings afterwards.
On September 10th, Kylie Jenner was seen prancing around NYFW in an all denim look, complete with a white durag. A durag, usually a head scarf used in black culture to cover, tame and manipulate hair a little bit due to the coarse grain of hair blacks have, is also seen as a staple for those who come from the “hood,” and are not deemed acceptable by society when on a black person’s body outside of their home environment. Again, the problem doesn’t arise by Kylie simply wearing the durag, more so the fact that, as @MochaInthecut said, “Kylie’s called cute and trendy but I’d be be called ghetto/ratchet if I wore my bonnet/durag in public…Interesting.” As @
JEHNAYA_ articulated, “so Kylie wears her durag to NYFW and she’s stylish but I wear my durag to Walmart and I’m ratchet? Explain. | & the funny part is the same media that mocks BW [black women] for leaving the house in their scarves are the ones to call her durag an exotic new trend.”
Two days later as Alexander Wang released some t-shirts Black Twitter, yet again, called out a designer for taking another style the black community has known forever, and calling it new high fashion. His t-shirts were extremely simple: white box cut shirts with spray paint writing on them, but to the black community, they seemed a bit too familiar. After @TheCut headlined an article tweet, “See the Alexander Wang t-shirts you can’t buy anywhere...,” @ohsoordinary quickly shot back, “I am 100% sure that I can buy these in any corner store in any hood in any city
because this is just another rip off of black culture.” The tweet got over 2,500 retweets, over 4,000 likes, several comments as people reminisced on when they used to own one themselves, as well as some backlash. Although annoyed at another case of cultural appropriation by the fashion industry, Black Twitter has a way of turning almost everything - and I do mean everything - into a joke, making it a hilarious trend on Twitter for hours or days at a time.
Kylie is a rising target amongst the black community as some recognize her quick jump onto styles like durags and cornrows but wonder about her silence when an innocent black man gets shot. Where’s her appreciation of black culture then?
One of the biggest controversies during this Fashion Month that Black Twitter didn’t find so funny was Marc Jacob’s use of dreadlocks on the runway. Twitter went into an uproar when his latest collection was displayed amongst models all having colored dreads sewn in their head. One headline from Affinity Mag read, “Marc Jacobs chose to use white models with ‘dreads’ instead of just using black models with actual dreads.” People flooded his Instagram with comments like “you should’ve just used women of color instead of white people… or not used dreads as an aesthetic look or trend (@radical.lizeth)” and “Was super cool until I realized the pastel hair was in dreads. Like the commenter above me said, if that was the look you were going for, use models of color. Would’ve been a great way to be more inclusive and have an amazing show with an otherwise-amazing aesthetic. (@emmelephant)” Apparently tired of the attacks, Marc Jacobs shot back specifically mentioning those two, “… and all who cry “cultural appropriation” or whatever nonsense about any race of skin color wearing their hair in any particular style or manner- funny how you don’t
criticize women of color for straightening their hair. I respect and am inspired by people and how they look. I don’t see color or race- I see people. I’m sorry to read that so many people are so narrow minded…Love is the answer. Appreciation of all and inspiration from anywhere is a beautiful thing. Think about it.” Most of the backlash to his response came from his “women of color straightening their hair” comment that a lot of people deemed as plain ignorant as they felt he was specifically attacking black women. He might not be aware of this, but the natural hair of “women of color” isn’t necessarily the first thing helping you get hired during a job interview, let alone helping the way people look at us as we walk down the street with natural tresses. Straight hair was deemed professional, most acceptable and “appropriate” by means of societal beauty standards. In response to this comment people used the only platform they have, social media, to break it down to Mr. Jacobs, since he seemed so confused about his white privilege.
@WavyALaFlare tweeted, “…saddening because you see our style emulated day in and day out in white culture yet not respected.”
@kasandra_alexis tweeted, “black women being forced to assimilate due to European beauty standards is nothing near appropriation. So disappointed.”
@Ambitious_Lush went on a rant highlighting Marc Jacob’s dismissiveness when addressing the backlash, “I’m not mad at Marc Jacobs for using models with dreads in his show. I’m mad at how dismissive he was of the very people he’s imitating.” The tweet got over 700 retweets. She continued. “You cannot continue to use poc and their culture for monetary gain and not care about the ppl who you imitate of their culture. | At least honor the ppl you’re imitating and educate yourself on their culture, bring awareness to the problems poc face if you’re going to use them. | I guarantee you if Marc Jacobs was at least educated on dreads and their cultural significance, there would be no problem. | Instead Marc basically said “F*** y’all and y’all culture, I like the way it looks and I’m going to use it in my show.” | Then trying to say poc straighten their hair and no one gets mad? Maybe because straight hair is genetic and not cultural? Like I can’t!”
As they seemed to feel attacked and insulted by his comments, black girls, including myself, throughout the Twittersphere started to question their loyalty to the Marc Jacobs brand as a customer.
“…saddening because you see our style emulated day in and day out in white culture yet not respected.”
@Tati_WM said, “seriously? Our natural hair remains regulated in schools even today. It has always been seen as | less than. Referred to as unkept. We had to “assimilate” to get jobs. That prejudice, not appropriation.”
Marc Jacobs later apologized for “the lack of sensitivity unintentionally expressed by my brevity,” and stressed his core point of freedom to express oneself through the arts. He encouraged everyone to continue expressing their feelings on the issue but asked that it be done so kindly.
As much as people love to equate the opinion of one black person to the opinions of us all, I can only speak for myself. All I personally ask for is a little sensitivity, authentic appreciation for our culture opposed to selective participation and refraining from telling me how I should feel. We have a long road ahead of us, not only surrounding cultural appropriation of black culture, but all cultures. I believe that we have come a long way within the fashion industry, as well as a nation in general, through something as simple as holding people accountable and/or merely prompting dialogue, via 140 characters.
SOCI SOCIA McQueen
Balmain
@jourdandunn
Dior
@stellamaxwell
Social media has permanently changed the face of fashion. For years, the happenings of fashion weeks around the world were only known by a select, insider group. Today, the story is completely different. Fashion Week is a Snapchat Story, and anyone can see it. Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter have turned the fashion world upside down and rightside up again. The exclusivity that once divided designers, models, socialites and celebrities from the general public has been dissolved and a new wave of inclusion in this elite industry has taken course.
M
Moschino
Fendi
IAL AL @stellamaxwell
Yeezy
Advertising tactics used to be restricted to the pages of fashion magazines, only to be viewed by a small and specific group of people. With the help of social media outlets, the audience for these ads has grown exponentially and become more diverse, further popularizing the industry. For those of us that already kept tabs on our favorite fashion houses and icons, social media has made accessing information way far easier and quicker. Rather than finding out what was trending in any one of the fashion capitols days after the shows, we can experience it in real time via pictures and videos shared by the professionals.
MEDIA Chanel Set
@essence
Valentino
@NYFW
@iamnaomicampbell
John Gallian
Alex Wang