Following the announcement of Hood By Air's official hiatus, Shayne Oliver presented his debut collection at Helmut Lang for Spring/Summer 2018. The collection was a turning point for many reasons. First, it saw Oliver's triumphant return to the runway, translating his insurgent ideas of sexuality, gender, subculture and streetwear (as seen in HBA) to a more historied, albeit still youth-centric label.
The show also revived Helmut Lang’s anarchist legacy, which, during the label’s peak in the ’90s/early 2000s, brought streetwear to the world of high fashion way before it was a trend.
Blending Oliver’s trademark fetishistic streetwear with Lang’s gender-neutral silhouettes and razor sharp tailoring, the collection was widely applauded and dubbed by many as an exciting new direction for the house.
10.
Helmut Lang Spring/Summer 2018
In terms of spectacle, Rihanna’s Fenty PUMA Spring/Summer 2018 runway presentation was by far New York Fashion Week’s most exhilarating event. Inspired by X Games and rave subculture, the show featured giant pink sand dunes, daredevil motocross stunts and a neon green-clad @badgalriri zipping across the stage on a bike.
The adrenaline-filled affair definitely made a case for entertainers-turned-designers, but the clothing itself also asserted Rihanna’s design prowess. This season’s collection boasted vividly-colored surf and motocross-tinged sportswear cut from sheeny nylons, skintight patent leathers and was rounded out by a broad range of statement accessories and footwear.
9.
Fenty PUMA Spring/Summer 2018
It’s always exciting to see more under the radar designers, such as
Martine Rose, featured on a list dominated mainly by fashion heavyweights, who have the obvious advantage of larger production capacities and stronger brand backing. In terms of exhibition, Martine Rose’s Spring/Summer 2018 runway steered away from the usual city center locales by inviting guests to a remote gymnasium in Tottenham, London.
The collection’s tailoring and bold use of color presented a polarizing trend -- reworked business casual -- in a way that made people actually want to wear the pieces, rather than just appreciate them for their satirical overtone. The range, which was one of the British menswear designer’s best to date, referenced ’80s and ’90s Toronto underground culture by fusing sportswear and normcore elements with luxe materials, oversized cuts and eye-grabbing logos.
8.
Martine Rose Spring/Summer 2018
For his Fall/Winter 2017 presentation, Gosha Rubchinskiy welcomed invitees to the remote city of Kaliningrad, Russia, a location ripe with historical relevance but completely removed from mainstream fashion week hype.
Keeping with the designer’s Eastern European agenda, the collection was a celebration of everyday garb worn by Russian youth and introduced a debut collaboration with adidas Football, putting soccer uniforms and fan scarves on the global fashion map.
But perhaps what made the runway show a hit was its earnest narrative; set in a sprawling Soviet-style youth center, locally cast models walked down the catwalk paired with their own voice-over monologues, creating a soundtrack which Rubchinskiy described as "a portrait of Russia now."
7.
Gosha Rubchinskiy Fall/Winter 2017
Calvin Klein's Fall/Winter 2017 ready-to-wear runway show was Raf Simons's debut collection for the iconic American label. With big shoes to fill and primed with high expectations, the collection didn't falter when it debuted at the company's NYC headquarters in front of the legacy house’s loyal patrons; the Belgian designer's sincere European take on classic Americana was so successful that many regarded Simons as the savior of America’s increasingly lackluster design landscape.
Sartorial tokens of the Land of Liberty were seen via Western shirts, cowboy boots, denim outfits and gender-neutral Wall Street suits, all of which fused CK's signature minimalism with a refreshingly bright color palette and couture-like European craftsmanship. Simons brought his curation full circle by enlisting American artist and long-time friend/collaborator Sterling Ruby
to design the runway set, making the highly-anticipated show a visual treat for attendees.
6.
Calvin Klein Fall/Winter 2017
Presented off-schedule and at the height of the label’s newfound popularity, Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2017 show was Alessandro Michele’s most vivid spectacle to date.
The presentation, which was held in a glass-like tunnel basked in hues of surreal neon light, debuted a whopping 120 looks, each one exerting Michele’s trademark Rococo maximalism and vivid color palette.
Sportswear staples such as tracksuits, sweatbands, glittery bodysuits and varsity coats were peppered in with kitschy florals, heritage prints and homely knits, while indulgent layering and mixed textiles created a rebellious and playful take on opulence. The popular Coco Capitan scribble motifs that debuted in the show became some of the most popular pieces in the street style circuit, and the crystal body suits became one of the year’s biggest fashion memes when Rihanna donned the audacious outfit at Coachella.
5.
Gucci Fall/Winter 2017
Regarded by many as the best show from New York Fashion Week Men’s, Raf Simons’s Spring/Summer 2018 presentation was an immersive spectacle that riffed on a breathtaking Blade Runner theme. The event took place in a dingy Chinatown locale, where the neighborhood’s gritty scents, humidity and sights seeped into the catwalk setting.
Under the sinister glare of red and blue neon lights, models paraded along a damp concrete catwalk donning water-resistant gear, slouchy knits, graphic tees and holding glowing umbrellas that resembled lightsabers. The neo-noir, sci-fi theme was made even more apparent with “Replicant” emblazoned on many of the garments, while Chinese lanterns created in collaboration with acclaimed artist Peter Saville -- featuring the artist’s iconic Joy Division and New Order artworks -- rounded out the charged setting.
4.
Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2018
Balenciaga became fashion’s meme master this year, with the label’s Fall/Winter 2017 show being responsible for many of the buzzworthy fashion trends right now -- clunky sneakers, reworked corporate attire and being humorously self-aware (something the fashion industry isn’t always known for).
Asserting the notion that fashion is a speakpiece for political attitudes, Demna Gvasalia unveiled a collection that paid homage to 2016’s Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders with an array of logo-brazen, bootleg-inspired merch. At the same time, Gvasalia showcased his riotous vision by merging oversized streetwear silhouettes with traditional tailoring, sprinkling tongue-in-cheek commentary via pricey leather shopping bags, Matrix-style sunglasses and post-normcore aesthetics.
3.
Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2017
Staking its spot as one of the most talked-about design houses in fashion, Vetements’s Fall/Winter 2017 runway show boasted the imprint’s penchant for challenging established conventions and blurring the lines between couture and low-end, ready-to-wear. The show was Vetements’s last runway event before issuing the "no more fashion shows" statement in June (this was reverted with a recent announcement in December that the label would return to the runway in January 2018), and many saw it as an artful stab at corporate fashion.
Unlike its usual suspects, this collection's cast of models came in all sizes, shapes and ethnicities, displaying an all-inclusive angle that also subversively reappropriated existing stereotypes to extreme proportions. The humorous realism of the show featured a line-up of crazy looks including a fur-coated madame, skinheads, goths, punks, a club bouncer, office receptionists, Wall Street junkies and a grand finale wedding gown tracksuit.
2.
Vetements Fall/Winter 2017
The debut of Louis Vuitton’s Supreme collaboration at its Fall/Winter 2017 show became the poster child of this year’s fashion climate, officially merging the realms of streetwear and luxury fashion. Under Kim Jones’s creative direction, the industry saw the world’s most well-known luxury label link arms with the top dog of streetwear. Unsurprisingly, the collaboration garnered record-high anticipation, fueling a roller coaster of global releases being postponed, cancelled and then re-upped.
Even after the release frenzy, months of collab-inspired DIY customs and countless sales growth data reports led to Supreme ultimately breaking fashion's glass ceiling. In October of 2017, James Jebbia confirmed that the Carlyle Group bought out Supreme, which then led to an estimated valuation of around $1 billion USD. Furthermore, global brand consultancy, Interbrand, dubbed Louis Vuitton as the Best Fashion Brand in the World.
As high fashion continues to move more towards the streetwear realm, we see luxury labels adopt the spirit of collaboration, yield the power of graphic symbolism, and champion the conviction that simple constructions can have wide reach — with the help of social media and a touch of sardonic humor. These critical moments of change and rebranding were especially prevalent on the runway, where fashion houses created holistic sartorial narratives that gave meaning to their collections. We took into consideration everything that makes for a successful fashion runway show: the spectacle, the context, the attention it garnered and, of course, the collection itself. Here are 10 of 2017's top runway shows, in no particular order.
The phrase "fashion is more than just
the clothing" rang particularly true in 2017.
A year of spectacle, re-branding
and challenging conventions.
1.
Supreme x Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2017
The BEST runway shows of 2017
