If you needed more proof that Alexander Wang is a rock star you only had to look left as you entered Pier 94 for his ten-year anniversary show last night. Yes, that was Wang merchandise being sold to support the Do Something initiative for social change. Ten years is a long time in fashion, to have thrived like Wang has in the house that he built is really quite something. And if you were wondering how the designer is feeling after the Balenciaga split, his usually exuberant post-show jog down the runway was sugar-rush hyper. He’s just fine, thank you. Mind you, he did have in front of him pretty much every celebrity to have ever existed and behind him a giant video wall, running the length of the very long runway, with his name flashing big, bold, and bright. Seconds before, a highlights reel from the past ten years managed to capture the same manic energy and in the jumble of it all one thing stood out: an even more baby-faced Wang talking about his dream of making it in fashion and not believing how fast it all happened.
If his designer ego was wounded after the short and not always sweet Balenciaga marriage, he didn’t try to remedy it by reaching far outside his comfort zone with this collection. The real sign of where Wang is taking his label will come next season, once he’s shown his last collection in Paris. The only thing to prove is that he continues, ten years and a lot of success later, to be in touch with the here and now – a trickier proposition than it sounds. Whether he did it tonight or not is really up to what you expect from a Wang collection. This one had everything: crop tops and low-slung trousers, baseball hats and sneaker detailing, mesh, a lot of mesh, bomber jackets, pyjama shirts, boxer/denim hybrid shorts, slip lace dresses and fringed black leather. It was, in short, what a girl could have amassed in her wardrobe after shopping at Alexander Wang over the years. Was it insubstantial or simply unpretentious? After all, everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun Snapchatting themselves making it rain with Wang dollars in front of the pole dancers, revealed as soon as the designer disappeared backstage. So, for his Big Ten, Wang got what every boy dreams of: his very own Hooters.
