Vogue World: Stepping Out New York Style
Riding with Genesis For A New York Fashion Week Night
I just returned from Paris where I’m still marveling over the exhibition “Shocking: The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli” at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. Schiaperelli arrived in Paris 100 years ago and launched her career in fashion. She merged worlds and collaborated with Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, and Man Ray. Jean-Michel Frank and Alberto Giacometti designed the furniture for her fashion house at 21 Place Vendome. Her striking silhouettes, wild lobster and newspaper prints and stunning embroidery are something to behold.
Beautiful clothing is tactile by nature. It can be esoteric or everything. Functional and frivolous. Necessary and wasteful. All the things that make us question our values, our taste, our budget, and how we succumb to our whimsies. Frivolity can make us feel something, the clothes we love make us feel good. As we move through our life stages, the type of clothing we favor shifts in response to our environment, our challenges, and how we perceive ourselves. Or as Schiaparelli said “In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” During World War II she designed couture dresses with cash and carry pouches to be air-raid ready.
Schiaparelli lacks the household recognition of Prada or Gucci, but she is a revered in the fashion world. Vogue honored Schiaparelli’s legacy in 2012 at the Met Ball. Anna Wintor broke tradition from Chanel and wore Schiaparelli for the occasion. Christian Lacroix’s 2014 collection was inspired by her. Maison Schiaparelli is on a bit of a comeback, under the direction of Daniel Roseberry who dressed Lady Gaga for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
In this pandemic era, people reemerge in stages, on edge about the unknown future, most visible in big cities, bruised from isolation and painfully still moments. People worry that city life has been altered in an unconceivable way. And yet we are out in droves, repainting the street with presence.
“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.”
While the disparity, inequities, and loss all around is undeniable on the streets of New York, bits of joy and sparkle remind us of the dichotomy that’s always on view in Manhattan. Its the unique way New York enchants as it rediscovers its character. In mid-September, during fashion week, I joined a small group organized by Genesis, maker of luxury cars for the first Vogue Fashion World to be held in the open air, in the streets, under the Manhattan stars. Genesis and Vogue have a business relationship and so our view of the event was up close and personal. Together with Paul Wharton, Anna Quincoces, and Tanya Gadzik, I took it all in.
Rainstorms were forecast, but this didn’t stop workers, production assistants, and lighting specialists who scurried along the street in the Meatpacking District to prepare, determined that the show must go on, and probably still happy to back at their trade. As the event time neared, the darkness evaporate as skies cleared, and the show went forward as planned. We were seated in the cobblestone streets.
Showtime was salve for a New York on the comeback, culminating in Serena Williams triumphant walk in custom silver flowing Balenciaga following her final match at the US Open, flanked by Bella and Gigi Hadid. There was Lil Nas X’s sultry performance and DJ Benji B’s pitch perfect soundtrack, and Howard University Ooh La La dance squad, a fashion show extravaganza choreographed by Redha Medjellekh and Ehizoje Azeke, that even featured ballet legend Michael Barishnokov strutting his stuff in a camel-colored trench. Looks were cast by Vogue fashion editors Alex Harrington and Luca Galasso, and the backdrop of AR filters, Snap and a mini market with freebies like Ralph Lauren coffee, Fendi baguettes, and Burberry high tea. It marked a New York moment, a joyful taking of the streets in decadent glamour. The vibe was a reminder of why many us live here — to happen upon a New York thing.
Cars came into focus as our group chauffeured in a lean fleets of G90 sedans, popped over to the Genesis House. All dressed up, the parallels of how I feel in a fine car and when well dressed are obvious. The space is designed by Eulho Suh, principal Suh Architects. We experienced haute Korean culinary culture, by the purveyor of Onjium in Seoul, and executive chef Andrew Choi. Golden Queen rice up was served and we learned how to make our own craft cocktails. The Genesis House opened one year ago and has fashioned itself into a destination for the moment.
By the following morning, all traces of the Vogue extravaganza were gone. In hindsight, it serves as a welcome reminder of how we used to get down in the the pre-pandemic days in NYC – and still can. As fall goes on, spring fashion weeks have come and gone, until the wintery months when New York fashion will turns it eye to the fall 2023 collections, something else to look forward. That’s the fun of it all here, where despite the hard, challenges facing the world, only in New York moments fleeting fancies come and go in outrageous fashion.