Dries Van Noten, Fall 2012 Men, Photo credit: i-D
When Sarah Burton admitted that theatrical runway shows are Lee’s territory and she can’t try to pretend to be him, we realized that gone with McQueen was the era of runway shows with the confluence of performance and stage design.
A few designers, however, are stubborn enough to keep putting on runway shows that are the antithesis of simple-white-background runway walks . 2012 opened up with a runway performance of Dutch artists live-painting the artworks used in Dries Van Noten’s prints. The prints are so fresh that they seemed to be still wet and smeared on the psychedelic canvas.
Backdrops are to runway shows what clues are to detective stories. A 60’s underground art scene could be deducted from a Warhol interview scripted on Yves Saint Laurent’s chalkboard. Using Café de Flore and the chanson duo Bridget as the setting, both Alice+Olivia and Victor&Rolf revealed a typical French gamine. A backdrop of Jean Brodie's classroom in Peter Jensen’s show set the scene of the dismissed Miss Jean Brodie suspecting who betrayed her. Without backdrops, the runway, although less distracting, may not be approved by Agatha Christie.
Yves Saint Laurent, Fall 2012 Men, Photo credit: Style.com
Alice+Olivia, Fall 2012, Photo credit: Style.com
Victor and Rolf, SS 2012, Photo credit: gala.fr
Peter Jensen, Fall 2010, Photo credit: Style.com
