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30/8/2014 - The catwalk as theatre

Director Spike Jonze attends 'Her' Premiere during The 8th Rome Film Festival at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on November 10, 2013 in Rome, Italy
(Image:evening gowns uk)

The “experiential show” – in which design houses collaborate with artists, musicians, dancers or directors to present catwalk spectacles – is becoming increasingly popular. True, fashion has always loved a showman, and designers such as Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and John Galliano have used the catwalk as a stage for dramatic presentations. But now a new generation of designers is pushing ever further the boundaries of what constitutes a fashion show. It’s a movement that is transforming expectations of the catwalk, making it less passive and more inclusive – especially when the figures on stage aren’t actually models.

Singers such as Lily Allen and Florence Welch have sometimes spiced up show proceedings by providing a live soundtrack on the catwalk but most would credit Rick Owens as having kick-started the latest move towards an intense show “spectacle”.

Owens’ spring/summer 2014 show, a breathtaking coup de théâtre in which a pulsating performance by 40 fierce-looking step-dancers was the talking point of the Paris fashion show calendar. Not only did it present the case for an alternative, accessible approach to high fashion, it was also a terrific PR coup.

Where Owens led, others have followed, and we have seen a gradually rising number of shows with a theatrical, immersive or experiential bent.

©GettyIn February, New York-based label Opening Ceremony experimented with sensory stimulation by melting 4,000lb of chocolate down whitewashed walls. And this season the label’s founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim will avoid the catwalk altogether, choosing instead to showcase their collection on actors in a theatre production, directed by Spike Jonze (pictured) and co-written by actor Jonah Hill.

“We are of a generation where we want to do a show and have fun with it – we try to infuse that into everything we work on,” says Leon, who previously worked with Jonze on the costumes for his Oscar-nominated film Her . “By collaborating with artists and influencers outside of the realm of fashion, we get to expand our communities.”

The tilt towards the experiential is in line with a wider trend gripping the industry. People don’t just want to own a luxury product – they want to experience it, too. Flagship stores, hotels, concerts, beauty treatments and digital services are all increasingly designed with long-term engagement in mind – and the fashion show is apparently no different.

“We can’t forget that what I do is first and foremost about selling clothes but it’s also about being part of a wider cultural dialogue,” says British designer Gareth Pugh, who recently announced that he would be relocating from Paris to New York for the spring/summer shows.

On September 4, Pugh will present an “immersive live performance” that will take the form of a film installation, screened throughout three rooms and devised in collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor and his dance troupe.

“The fashion industry deals heavily with change from season to season,” says Pugh, “so it’s odd that it can be so resistant to change when it comes to how things are presented. Using performance gives me more control over how my work is showcased, and a blank canvas away from the filtered banality of commerciality.

“I’m seducing a wider audience into a different world with my collection, rather than just offering them a pretty dress. I’m speaking to their imagination and intelligence, rather than just their purse.”Also read here:vintage prom dresses uk

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