New York Fashion Week Burgeoning Freedom: Parsons MFA

Fashion week ended on Wednesday night, and with it, a collection of America’s young independent designers made their presence felt.

New York Fashion Week officially kicked off in full gear last Friday at the Hammerstein Ballroom where Fendi celebrated everything that pre-pandemic: oouus and the appeal of the audience and a review of all things luxury.

At the same time, blocky, independent designers resisted notions of luxury.

Tia Adela

From Nike’s two-day ‘Beyond the Court’ experience at the Hudson Yards shed, Nigerian-born and New School-alum designer Tia Adela deployed shades resembling the American statue. Adela’s show consisted of a theatrical experiment in the contemporary Harlem Renaissance.

“I was in drama in high school and it was brilliant. [Mugler’s] A love for film noir,” Adela said in her show notes. French designer Manford Harry Mugler, who passed away last January, was a master of theater and Adela was a diligent student of his mastery.

From the look of Adeola’s opening, it is clear that this collection was not dignified. Where Mugler exposed bare breasts, Adela was layered with crystals. Where Mugler exposed bare knuckles, Adela spoke deeply. Where Mugler relegates male models as chiseled underwear boytoys, Adeola romances them in elegant and elegant fashion. Adela introduced menswear for the first time since its full womenswear debut in February.

At the age of 24, Adela offered safe feminine luxury to her loyal customers.

Baragan

Literally The debris littered the ground Sunday several blocks away from the Eugene Lang Building. Mexican-American designer Victor Barragán returns to Fashion Week after a three-year hiatus with funding from NYFW’s Small Business Grant from Empire State Development. Barragan, surprisingly, presented a mix of business casual uniforms, short skirts and camisole pants. However, this was not the point. All white models (some were Latino and trans; of course) walking around with Scotty taped shoes, botoxed lips, and New York Mets reading “Met” in the trash.

Wearing Barragan’s signature Latin models in loose leather pants (for now). They have been replaced by the American shadow of Barragan, inhabited by people who roam the hellish drug den corporation. Isn’t this sexist?

It begs the question as to why the Masked Boy left in the collection’s final act of revenge, replacing Barragan’s last arrow. Maybe a one-time trial approach. The real test comes in the previous months to find out which retailers are stocking up Corporate luxury.

Parsons MFA

Two days later, during a celebration at Spring Studios, Parsons MFA designers presented New York Mirror. Mandarin monograms adorned the nudes from Ziqing Zhang’s rebel collection, and a blue dress from Chung Meng Ling emerged. Sarah House sends out a gay visibility experiment with two tattooed male models in dark blue rayon coats and trousers holding hands and holding a blank billboard sign – a sign of movement or, worse, moments before an idea strikes. The runway. House also made her designs accessible to buyers by placing Parsons professor Hazel Clarke in a white double room. The first and only of the aforementioned brands to feature a middle-aged female model.

Marlene Hassus perfectly shows off body proportions with a denim cut-out, while Louie Louie’s brown balloon coat reaffirms gender stereotypes.

Parsons’ last designer epitomizes one of fashion’s longest-lasting taboos: financial inequality. Japanese designer Asato Kitamura presented models holding lifeless corpse dolls, not gowns, but works of art. One creation, a white headpiece and gold vinyl dress, donned a black female model that looked like it was tied together. In a strange twist, while not Kitamu’s original thought process, his creation perfectly describes New York outside of Spring Studios.

Outside of Spring Studios and the world of fashion, New York reaps an imbalance that prevents many New Yorkers from achieving financial stability. In fashion, inequality is seen to be guarded behind the black velvet cords of those who have and are accepted at fashion week. It is illustrated by the fact that designers get a show date on the official New York Fashion Week calendar.

“There needs to be a few more avenues, whether it’s funding options or other avenues,” Parsons alumnus and young independent designer Conor McKnight told a recent feature. Women’s clothing every day. McKnight was forced to cancel his runway presentation due to lack of funds.

It’s almost a fitting conclusion to New York Fashion Week. The house soundtrack of the 1990s and the forgotten taboo subjects of pre-pandemic luxury came to the runway.