Design-wise there wasn't much excitement on the runway of Tommy Hilfiger's "buy-now" TommyNow S/S 19 collection designed with actress-singer Zendaya (and with some help from her stylist Law Roach). Dubbed Tommy Hilfiger x Zendaya, the collection was showcased at the Champs-Elysees Theatre during Paris Fashion Week.
There were indeed practical separates for the day, functional evening and party dresses, flared denims and oxblood leather trousers or skirts matched with golden platform sandals; the capsule also included zodiac-inspired prints, halter tops and and sparkling Lurex jackets, skirts and jumpsuits. Iconic women from the '70s and the '80s were the main inspiration for these designs that at times evoked the moods of Studio 54.
As a whole the collection focused more on high street than on design pieces, aligning with the mass-market spirit of the brand (but the PVC raincoat that seemed to be the cheaper and less conceptual version of Raf Simons' Prince of Wales check coat sandwiched in transparent plastic sheets in Calvin Klein's A/W 2017 collection - did it happen because Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Kelin are controlled by the same holding, American PVH Corp? - should have been edited out of the collection for obvious reasons...).
Yet sparks flew somewhere else: the runway was a celebration of diversity and inclusivity, it revolved indeed around a cast of cross-generation Black models aged from 18 to 70 of all body types.
All of them smiled in their figure-flattering clothes, danced and posed happily, looking like they were having a great time, while performers on roller skates danced under the flashing lights.
At the very end of the show singer Grace Jones, the 70-year-old Jamaican-American singer and model, made an appearance in a golden Lurex bodysuit, thigh-high boots and shiny stripy jacket. She danced on her 1981 hit "Pull Up to the Bumper" looking like a fierce and fearless super disco Amazon and sending the crowd in a frenzy.
Moments before her iconic model Pat Cleveland, also known as the world’s first black supermodel, performed her dramatic signature dance in an asymmetric colourful pleated metallic dress. The show closed with all the models in jeans and T-shirts singing along on the notes of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family".
Was this a sort of ode to Saturday Night Fever? Yes and no. The main inspiration was indeed the so-called "Battle of Versailles" fashion show held in 1973 at the Palace of Versailles, to raise funds for its restoration.
It was fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who organised this special show that featured on one side French designers Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Andre Oliver (Cardin) and Marc Bohan (Christian Dior) and Emanuel Ungaro, and on the other American creators Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Stephen Burrows.
When the curtain rose on the grand event, the French couturiers presented to the audience of royals and celebrities a proper show with elaborate props, while the Americans opened their segment with Liza Minnelli singing "Bonjour, Paris!", but then the attention quickly re-focused on a dynamic presentation featuring Anne Klein's sportswear and Stephen Burrows's brightly coloured jersey dresses donned by beautiful African-American models followed by Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta (with a show revolving around a sensual genie who brought alive the colours donned by the models around her, this segment was somehow evoked by the colourful halter dresses in Tommy Hilfiger's show) and Halston.
The rhythms of the show, being shorter ad more frenetic (the French section lasted 2 hours and a half, the American section only 35 minutes...) were more appreciated by the members of the audience who threw in the air their catalogues in celebration.
With their presentation the American designers marked a turning point in the history of fashion: they indeed showcased a different way of wearing and displaying clothes, proving that ready-to-wear could be as important as couture while highlighting that the fashion industry had been up until then quite racist. It was indeed after that event that African-American models arrived on the runways and appeared on the covers of fashion magazines.
There were two lessons from the Battle of Versailles that were readopted for this show: a fast and furious presentation with functional clothes and an emphasis on diversity with a cast that also included curvy models for the first time on a Tommy Hilfiger runway (but this choice is perfectly aligned with the fact that the brand has been opening up in the last few years to a wider range of consumers).
There were further connections with the 1973 Versailles show: two models at the Zendaya show - Pat Cleveland on the runway and Bethann Hardison in the front row - modelled at the Versailles event.
Yet, while it was great seeing Grace Jones on the runway (you need some fierceness to counteract the emaciated/super sad/depressed look on many runways out there...) and while the show brought some fun in a rather uninteresting season overshadowed also by Karl Lagerfeld's death, this spectacle made you think as it confirmed that fashion nowadays is just about the spectacle and not about the clothes.
Comments