60 Fashion Month Moments We Won’t Soon Forget Inline
Photo: Marcus Tondo / Indigitalimages.com1/58Vetements: Take some familiar, basic elements. Remix them just enough. Add a dose of punk rock attitude. Create a sensation.
—Dirk Standen, Editor in Chief
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com2/58Dries Van Noten's shows never fail to make me cry. This season it was the stunning a cappella versions of familiar songs by female artists that did it to me, Debbie Harry's voice on "Rapture" in particular. The clothes were dependably ravishing, too.
—Nicole Phelps, Executive Editor
Photo: Pierre Suu / Getty Images3/58What do we call it? Klosstasy? Caramania? Gigiphilia? Social media has turned these girls into pop idols. The screaming scenes turned a bit scary outside Balmain, but Joan Smalls laughed through the whole thing. What else are they gonna do? Screech with terror?
—Tim Blanks, Editor at Large
Photo: Sonny Vandevelde4/58Of all the grand venues used for fashion shows over the course of the month, I was most entranced by the Ellery presentation staged at the Kenzo Takada house in Paris. Designed in the traditional Japanese way, the home boasts a garden complete with carp pond and cherry tree surrounded by a teak pavilion, as well as an indoor lap pool. Upon entering, one is immediately transported to another place, and I relished a 20-minute moment of Zen while models floated by.
—Rachael Wang, Fashion Market Director
Photo: Tommy Ton5/58I've developed something of an obsession of late with actress-model-writer and all-around transgirl badass Hari Nef. So it was a pleasure to see her showing up on a few runways this season—in a beehive, no less, at Adam Selman's show—and even more of a pleasure to catch a glimpse of her on the street. She's got her own model-off-duty look, that's for damn sure.
—Maya Singer, Special Projects Editor
Photo: Luke Leitch6/58Who doesn't love watching shows? After all, it's a privilege. And reviewing clothes off a rail has its own abstract pleasures, too. Sometimes, though, a spot of something different can be bracing. Wearing a boilersuit in a mosh pit of photographers as a performance artist spray-painted the models, the clothes, and the backing band at A.F. Vandevorst's presentation in the Belgian ambassador's residence counted as something different. It was very bracing, indeed.
—Luke Leitch, Reviewer
Photo: @ralphlauren / Instagram7/58It's been exhausting (and exciting) to keep up with Kanye West this season. From the polarizing presentation to the myriad front-row appearances, he's become as ubiquitous as your favorite fashion editor. Forget West's fame as an artist, here was a moment between an upstart designer and a legend in the business, and you can see how West is both humbled and inspired by the encounter. It's Ralph Lauren, after all. Who wouldn't be?
—Noah Johnson, Deputy Editor
Photo: Getty Images8/58Math is in! Scribbled equations all over models' bodies? Has Junya Watanabe been reading Cédric Villani's Birth of a Theorem? He's that French mathematician who dresses like Baudelaire and has bobbed hair very in for the Victoriana thing that's going on this season as well. Watanabe did one of his best collectsions for Fall—particularly his great, honeycombed capes. Who doesn't want to look like a brilliant beehive?
—Jo-Ann Furniss, Reviewer
Photo: Getty Images9/58Genuinely happy-looking models? Heaven forfend! The dancing, selfie-filled finale of Libertine's Fall outing made for a joyful, much-needed jolt at the tail end of a frigid New York fashion week.
—Kristin Anderson, Associate Fashion Editor
Photo: Boutayna Fartale10/58Nothing brightens a backstage more than a baby! Meeting Ashleigh Good's 5-month old daughter, Emily—and chatting with the new mom about her raven-haired makeover—at Alexander Wang was a total delight. Watching both of them take to the catwalk at Dolce & Gabbana later in the season (Emily's first out-of-the-womb runway experience) was enough to make even the iciest editor melt.
—Amber Kallor, Senior Beauty Editor
Photo: Steff Yotka11/58It was hard not to get sentimental at Opening Ceremony's presentation featuring Spike Jonze's personal photos. His snaps of the Beastie Boys hit me the hardest, though this bomber made from a collage that includes Kim Gordon and Björk will surely be in my closet come fall.
—Steff Yotka, Shopping Editor
Photo: Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com12/58It didn't surprise anyone that I loved Prada this season. Miuccia's girls were as cute as ever in bejeweled, bow-adorned pastels, but the fake-feeling sculpted jersey kept your sugar high in check.
—Emily Farra, Assistant Editor
Photo: Monica Feudi / Feudiguaineri.com13/58This was Riccardo Tisci's most focused collectsion yet for Givenchy. He took his signatures and concentrated, elevated, and perfected them.
—Dirk Standen
Photo: Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images14/58Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski's Hermès debut was subtle and understated. It was too quiet for some people, but I think she has a lot of potential. The proof that she's got a wild streak waiting to break free came in the ravishing necklace that topped off the show's otherwise minimal finale look.
—Nicole Phelps
Photo: @timblanks / Instagram15/58Fashion's power to fetishize The Object is unimpeachable. Now it's the turn of the umbrella. Hiroki Nakamura of Visvim found a 100-year-old one in a flea market that Sherpa guides used to carry in the French Alps. He went back to the original makers to do it again. Artisanal obsession! I love it.
—Tim Blanks
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com16/58The most-documented moment of fashion month was easily the most hilariously fun. Who could resist a Zoolander face-off between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson? And to close the Valentino show, no less.
—Rachael Wang
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com17/58The latest Giles show had a gothic vibe, no doubt about it. But it was anything but dour: The madcap tone of the show was summed up by its final exit, as Anna Cleveland (Pat's daughter!) pirouetted around the room in stilettos, fanning the pleats of her dress coquettishly with every turn. Screwball gothic: Who knew that could be a thing?
—Maya Singer
Photo: Stefania D’Alessandro / Getty Images18/58I'm British, I've always sat with the British, all my inanely gibbering chat is British. So both at menswear and for a bit of women's, the prospect of seeing this season's shows with a new crowd was a bit like being a newbie in class joining mid-semester. Conclusion? You guys are serious, but your humor is arch, you pack heavy, you eat light, and while I still have no idea who pretty much everyone is—because by God, there are a lot of you—you're unfailingly welcoming. Respect!
—Luke Leitch
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com19/58When Aneta Pajak came flying down the Maison Margiela catwalk, hands tucked into her pockets, crouched, scuttling like an urchin, I thought, Yes! Then I laughed my ass off. What a fantastic way for John Galliano, who did not appear for his postshow bow, to leave a distinct mark on the collectsion and in the minds of those watching.
—Noah Johnson
Collage: Michele Morosi / Indigitalimages.com; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com; Kim Weston Arnold / Indigitalimages.com; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com20/58Animals are in! In the words of David Byrne for Talking Heads—in the best song about animals ever written, incidentally called "Animals": "They say they don't need money / They're living on nuts and berries / They say animals don't worry / You know animals are hairy? / They think they know what's best / They're making a fool of us." Well, not anymore, now we want to dress like them. This season the new species of lunatic animal print and pattern could not be ignored at Dior, Christopher Kane, Louis Vuitton, and Miu Miu. A pair of genetically modified giraffe thigh boots with a new breed of catsuit? Dior. A sheep in wildcat's clothing with a printed shearling coat? LV. Crocodile in sheep's clothing, the knitted variety? Christopher Kane. And a snake that wants to be fake? Miu Miu. Like a fancy dress you can wear every day while listening to Talking Heads—re-create your own Miu Miu show.
—Jo-Ann Furniss
Photo: Kristin Anderson21/58Kate Wendelborn's hyper-soigné and utterly cool label, Protagonist, made its NYFW debut this season, and I don't know if I could have enjoyed it more. The spare, almost theatrical set and to-die-for casting made for a great, understated first outing.
—Kristin Anderson
Photo: Sonny Vandevelde / Indigitalimages.com (2)22/58A surprise appearance by mane master Julien d'Ys at Lanvin turned my typically jaded backstage self into the beauty version of a Belieber. From the simple braid secured with black ribbon to the pro's scrapbook filled with photos and sketches, interviewing him sent me into full-on fangirl mode.
—Amber Kallor
Photo: Steff Yotka23/58No bag, no jewelry, no problem. A message I can get behind at A.P.C.
—Steff Yotka
Photo: Sonny Vandevelde / Indigitalimages.com24/58Reading our senior beauty editor Amber Kallor's backstage reports is always one of my favorite things about fashion month. We share an affinity for hair accessories, so I think we would both agree that Dolce & Gabbana (which sweetly paid tribute to la mamma) was as good as it gets.
—Emily Farra
Photo: Jackie Nickerson25/58No debut has created this much controversy since Hedi Slimane's for Saint Laurent. In other words, Kanye West x Adidas Originals should be a runaway success.
—Dirk Standen
Photo: Getty Images26/58For fashion's sake, the 1930s is the decade I most wish I could've experienced firsthand. Eighty or so years later, this silvery white bias-cut beauty by Jeanne Lanvin, now on view at the Palais Galliera's gorgeous retrospective of the groundbreaking designer's work, is still the most soigné thing going.
—Nicole Phelps
Photo: Getty Images27/58At Comme des Garçons, two models, faces obscured and bodies swathed in immense orbs of lace, gazed at each other, pivoted in synchrony, and then glided apart. Only Rei Kawakubo could transform a runway technicality into a poetic choreography symbolizing the delicate dance between life and death.
—Rachael Wang
Photo: Marcus Tondo / Indigitalimages.com28/58At the end of a two-month stint of shows (from Pre-Fall appointments on January 5 onwards), it felt like blessed respite to fall into Sarah Burton's bed of rose petals at the McQueen show. Candidate for dress of the season.
—Tim Blanks
Photo: @mayathesinger / Instagram29/58Opening Ceremony collaborated with Spike Jonze last season, staging a fashion-show-as-play. This time out, it paid Jonze homage: Its presentation also served as a pop-up show of his unseen photography from the '90s, and the collectsion itself incorporated his shots. There was almost too much to see here—you could have lost an hour just staring at Jonze's old pics of Björk, Chloë Sevigny, Kim Gordon, and so on—but my favorite detail had to be the contact-sheet manicures on the models.
—Maya Singer
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com30/58It's great to see cream rise. Lorenzo Serafini's first collectsion at Philosophy was the culmination of years of dedicated behind-the-scenes toiling. Winsome, romantic, sexy, demure—and commercial in the best possible sense.
—Luke Leitch
Photo: Da Drone Boyz31/58For the second season, we deployed drones into the skies above NYFW, and I can say without a doubt, this time around we really nailed it. The shots Da Drone Boyz got outside of the Jeremy Scott show were the best.
—Noah Johnson
Photo: Sonny Vandevelde / Indigitalimages.com32/58Trekking through arctic temps and snow is never easy, but the crystallized lower lash lines (an area that was unexpectedly in the spotlight this season) at Kate and Laura Mulleavy's Rodarte show made the journey worth it.
—Amber Kallor
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com33/58More travels in hyperreality with Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel: Brassiere Gabrielle. The art gallery, the supermarket, the street, the restaurant…The fourth part of this ready-to-wear Chanel quartet was perhaps the most jarringly real-not-real of all. Had this brassiere always been there? One guest, the writer Jerry Stafford, had left his phone on the bar—it was whisked away by brassiere staff, and when they were appealed to for help, they had the same surly attitude as the outside world. "Even the simulacrum gives you shit!" declared Stafford. The hyperreality continued as the models emerged and sat down or stood at the bar, looking like superannuated versions of the haute bourgeois Chanel customer. Then they never left—was this even a fashion show? It certainly fazed the audience, who did not know whether to get out of their seats for a good few minutes. Then Karl Lagerfeld conducted interviews from behind the bar: "What would you like?" he asked. Genius.
—Jo-Ann Furniss
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com34/58I will present this photo from the Stella McCartney show without comment.
—Kristin Anderson
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com35/58I loved the synthetic nature of Mary Katrantzou's show, especially the look of those pony-hair platforms against the Pepto-pink foam runway.
—Steff Yotka
Photo: Courtesy of Brock Collection36/58Brock Collection was one of my favorite discoveries this season. Husband-and-wife duo Laura Vassar and Kris Brock have hit the nail on the head when it comes to laid-back luxury that's easy to wear, a little playful, and not at all stuffy. I'm planning to live in this fuzzy floral coat and shimmering cropped pants next winter.
—Emily Farra
Photo: Marcus Tondo / Indigitalimages.com37/58Was the runway raised at Saint Laurent to evoke a rock venue or simply to afford a better view of the shoes? Hedi Slimane has already shown he can design clothes better than anyone, and now voilà, the ankle boot of all ankle boots.
—Dirk Standen
Photo: Kim Weston Arnold / Indigitalimages.com38/58I was surprised to find out that the Lanvin show divided opinion. Naysayers complained it didn't feel "Alber" enough, but who cares when it looks as sensational as this? After 10 years at the label, Elbaz has been searching for a new direction these last couple of seasons. For Fall, he found it by going back to his Moroccan roots.
—Nicole Phelps
Photo: @timblanks / Instagram39/58A fashion dinner must strike a delicate balance between this guest's need to eat, need to work, and need to sleep. Charlotte Dellal managed it effortlessly with her Charlotte Olympia dinner at Caviar Kaspia. No detail too small: napkins specially embroidered with her leopard emblem, a place setting featuring miniaturized shoes from her new collectsion, party games!…and a little "Uptown Funk."
—Tim Blanks
Photo: @antoniolieu / Instagram40/58The most intimate show I attended this season was Vetements. Benches were arranged in the basement of Le Depot, a cruise bar close to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, seating no more than 50 people, including Kanye West and a freshly platinum (eyebrows and all) Jared Leto. Attendees seemed mostly to be friends of the brand, which made for an unusually relaxed environment, with audience members whistling in approval of various models during the show. The clothes were refreshingly authentic, reminding me of art school friends and their inspired and often contradictory combinations of customized thrift, army-navy, and workwear store finds.
—Rachael Wang
Photo: Will Ragozzino / BFAnyc.com41/58On a straight-up shopping basis, Serafina Sama's latest Isa Arfen collectsion was one of my faves. I just loved her polished take on the look of the '90s—the bias-cut slipdresses, the block-heel Mary Janes she made with Charlotte Olympia, the Seattle plaid, and so on. She really got the grunge atmospherics right. And then Sama got the grunge thing so, so right again when she hosted an after-party at Chinatown's legendary karaoke dive Winnie's, which is closing at the end of the month. Insert 100 crying-face emojis here.
—Maya Singer
Photo: Luke Leitch42/58Hard partying and filing show reports for Style.com are tragically incompatible—unless, like Margaret Thatcher or Tim Blanks, you can function without sleep. But on the last night of London, I finally got to cut a rug at Natalia Vodianova and Karlie Kloss' carnival party for the Naked Heart Foundation—where I had my fortune told by a strangely familiar mystic.
—Luke Leitch
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com43/58The lace looks at the end of Christopher Kane's show were really quite stunning, and not because of their full-frontal male nudity—why do people get all het up about a flaccid penis? The "Lovers' Lace" was not a stitched-together appliqué or anything like that; it was one single piece of complicated lace expertly designed by Kane to encompass the body. How the hell did he do that? Christopher Kane at his sex-pest best.
—Jo-Ann Furniss
Photo: Marcus Tondo / Indigitalimages.com44/58Watching Versace alongside Lexi Boling's mother was pretty special—she was so proud that she cried when her daughter strutted down the stairs and onto the runway. "I need a T-shirt that says 'My kid just walked Versace,'" she told me post-finale. Donatella, hook a mama up?
—Amber Kallor
Photo: @styledotcom / snapchat45/58Catching up on fashion month on Snapchat with our own Rachael Wang made checking social media delightful. From market appointments to shows to car rides along the Seine, she covered a lot of ground this season, documenting it all in 15 seconds or less.
—Steff Yotka
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com46/58Leave it to Tom Ford to pull out all the stops for a West Coast extravaganza on the eve of the Oscars. Packed to the gills with enough A-list types to rival that same awards show, Ford's dressed-down, quietly boho Fall show at Milk Studios L.A. was one for the books.
—Kristin Anderson
Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth and James47/58Meeting Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen (albeit just for a few minutes) was one of those moments when it really hit me how crazy/amazing/surreal it is just to be in this position. My 16-year-old self never would have dreamed I'd be running around NYFW, let alone interviewing my personal style icons about their Elizabeth and James collectsion (which was chic and understated, for the record, with great accessories). I'm not jaded yet!
—Emily Farra
Photo: Monica Feudi / Feudiguaineri.com48/58Peter Dundas made Emilio Pucci newly relevant during his six years at the print-focused Florentine label. His final show was a moving, bittersweet good-bye filled with personal touches, like this black-and-white evening look that paid loving homage to his violin-playing mom. He got extra points for inviting his entire atelier out for one last bow. I'll be watching out for his next act.
—Nicole Phelps
Photo: Fameflynet Pictures49/58Early in the Paris fashion week calendar, Solange Knowles teamed up with ElevenParis to throw a party at Le Comptoir Général. The "art museum dedicated to ghetto culture" sits just off of Canal Saint Martin and houses a tiki bar, restaurant, coffee shop, secondhand store, radio station, and library. Great tunes, a cool-kid crowd, and a sweaty disco ball dance floor made for the best party of the season.
—Rachael Wang
Photo: Stefano Massè / Indigitalimages.com50/58The Met's Death Becomes Her exhibition has a lot to answer for. It cast a funereal pall over Fall 2015. So much jet-black, so much Victoriana, so much delicious morbidity. And nobody did it better than Thom Browne. This was the twisted-sister collectsion he was born to make. You might say he was the RIP VIP.
—Tim Blanks
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com51/58Roksanda Ilincic had always struck me as a fine but essentially one-note designer, adored by a particular London clique but of no great import outside it. Then, boom: Her Fall '15 collectsion displayed a richness and virtuosity hitherto unsuspected. There's nothing more thrilling than feeling your confounded preconceptions evaporate.
—Luke Leitch
Photo: Monica Feudi / Feudiguaineri.com52/58One of my favorite-ever shoots from the Style.com/Print magazine was Nick Haymes' portrait series, "Mi Vida Chola," from the Fall '14 issue. Riccardo Tisci was featured in the same issue, so I couldn't help but wonder, when I saw the chola-inspired hair, makeup, and jewelry at the Givenchy show, whether he'd taken a liking to the same spread. What I really appreciated, though, was that this was no chola rip-off: For lack of a better term, Tisci fully Tisci-ized the reference. It was the best kind of appropriation.
—Maya Singer
Photo: Courtesy of Eidos Napoli53/58Growing up in the '90s as a skateboarder in New York, it was pretty much a given that Gino Iannucci was among the legends you worshipped. So when emerging Naples-by-way-of-New-York menswear brand Eidos Napoli booked Iannucci for its NYFW presentation, it felt like an extremely targeted act of stunt casting, one that I, and maybe three other attendees, appreciated very much.
—Noah Johnson
