There's not much that a show-goer likes better than a seat. Ok, maybe some free food and a glass of something sparkly. Luckily, the last two were on offer and plentifully so at Gareth Pugh's New York presentation/event/live experience….well, show, really, as part of Lexus' Design Disrupted series. The former, not so much. Which is fine because a fashion crowd will do anything and will do it anywhere in order to witness something truly unique and exciting, fashion with a capital F, an Instagram hit, if you must. And there aren't many designers who can whip up such excitement. Gareth is most certainly one of them and on the opening day of this New York Fashion Week expectations were high.
So, if I sound a little disappointed it is only because I wanted to see Gareth’s clothes and I wanted to see them moving and soaring through the vast interior of Pier 36. But I didn’t, partly because letting a large group of people manoeuvre themselves towards three different directions, determined to catch a glimpse of what’s happening and capture it on their phones is an American football field away from genius but mainly because there wasn’t much of the collection to see. Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance troupe was impressive and the digital film installations on giant screens, smothered by grey smoke and haunting music, were promising. Pugh’s intrigue with the darker corners of folkloric rites and ceremonial rituals was palpable and maybe I am greedy but I wanted more. The final image of an ascending Phoenix-of-a-girl was memorable but quickly overtaken by that of the bunny iPhone cover that marred my view. The Lexus car was much more visible. And perhaps that was the most disruptive design of it all.
