Fashion week’s determination to subvert the Donald Trump presidency put “Make America New York” hats on the runway at Public School, while Victoria Beckham offered classic luxury to counter troubled times.
The red hats symbolized the New York identity of uber hip label Public School — founded by hometown team Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne — and the values of America’s cultural capital, a gateway to immigrants for centuries.
Emblazoned with white letters, the caps were a blatant riff on the “Make America Great Again” hats from the Trump campaign and the slogan that has remained the president’s rallying cry in office.
The numbers “44 1/2” were printed on the side, hard not to interpret as another dig at Trump, the 45th president who could be seen as “half” a president after losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
Public School took the political commentary further by dubbing their show “You’re Welcome” — in contrast to the protectionist, anti-undocumented immigrant stance of the new administration and its controversial determination to restrict entry from certain countries.
The show, on day four of New York fashion week, marked Public School’s return to the biannual style blitz after a year’s absence during a stint as chief designers at DKNY.
Several sportswear garments were printed with a picture of basketball legend Michael Jordan with the phrase “We Need Leaders.”
The collection also featured a reimagined American plaid shirt and dresses crafted from ribbed velvet, a fabric continuing its resurgence on the catwalks.
The streetwise designers told Women’s Wear Daily that the theme was “borders” — inspired by Trump’s planned US-Mexico border wall and what Chow called “this rise of isolationism and nationalism and xenophobia.”
The pair known for their downtown cool imagined a different world where human beings are citizens at home anywhere with the freedom to roam from place to place, and how relocating might influence attire.
“We’ve created some jacquards that kind of feel like a blown-out map. Or a kind of camo,” Osborne told Women’s Wear Daily.
“So, are you blending in? Are you standing out? What is it really? You don’t know exactly what it is.”
Across town, Beckham sought to put husband David’s damaging email scandal to the side by unveiling a beautifully tailored collection, her British cultural icon husband and their four children seated in the front row.
The footballing legend arrived with a smartly dressed Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, smiling into a blaze of flashing cameras for his most high-profile public appearance since the scandal broke.
The leak of a series of expletive-laden emails in which he apparently raged about not receiving a knighthood have battered his squeaky-clean image at home and had threatened to overshadow his wife’s fashion show.
But fashion editors, buyers and fans braved heavy rain in New York on Sunday morning for one thing only: a fall/winter 2017 collection of classic, wearable clothes made for the global woman.
– ‘Have to be positive’ –
As Beckham — one half of likely Britain’s most famous power couple — knows better than anyone, it was about keeping her customer happy.
There was a British feel with heritage fabrics and a color palette inspired by a gentleman’s club — oxblood, navy and black — mixed with more feminine rose-beige, powder blue and lipstick red.
The look was steeped in menswear — sharply tailored and oversized outerwear given a sexy, feminine edge with chiffon and georgette skirts, leather gloves worn to the elbow, and wedge and heeled boots.
There were also flat, masculine black shoes with a pointy toe and double buckle. The bag of the season was a sleek vanity-box.
“Never has there been a time where it is more important to empower women,” Beckham told reporters.
Without explicitly referencing Trump’s rocky first weeks as president and Brexit back home, she evoked the uncertain political times.
“There is so much going on at the moment in the world and I think that we have to be optimistic. We have to be positive,” she said.
“So what can I do to make my customer feel that? And like I said it’s just about really beautiful clothes and luxury and strength.”
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