The start of a new year for most signifies a fresh start and an optimistic stream of goals to achieve over the next few months, however, for fashion enthusiasts, the beginning of the year means one thing and one thing only—the anticipation of Fashion Week season.
New York Fashion Week begins Feb. 8, and although a Yeezy show is not on the official schedule, all eyes will be on Kanye West and his muse, Kim Kardashian West, for their next move.
This year, West doesn’t need a New
York runway show to flaunt his Yeezy Season 6 pieces, but, “fashion week needs
Kanye,” retweeted Kardashian West.
West takes pride in his innovative displays of his art
and his divergence from traditional runway shows—his last Yeezy show taking place during New York Fashion Week last year.
West uses aesthetically
pleasing spaces and carefully curated formations of models to play up Yeezy’s
signature washed out, earth tones and street wear based clothing, however, his diversion from runway in his new
advertising concept appears to be near genius.
Back in December, Kardashian West, wife of the Yeezy
designer, was spotted at several different locations in
Calabasas wearing Yeezy Season 6 as part of a strategically planned paparazzi-eqsue
photo campaign to promote the new collection.
In a similar fashion (no pun
intended), just last week West recruited a select group of trendy social-media
influencers, models and famous faces to recreate Kardashian West’s Season 6
looks— perfectly mirroring her poses and signature platinum wig at the
same Calabasas locations.
Perhaps the most notable participant
of West’s campaign is heiress Paris Hilton, for whom Kardashian West
was a stylist before she became a fashion icon herself.
Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga,
also took their women’s SS18 pieces to the streets with a similar concept as
Yeezy for their ad campaign.
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| Balenciaga |
Although these advertising campaigns have been credited as revolutionary, this is not the first time something like
this has been done.
A
series of paparazzi-inspired photos entitled “Don’t Shoot” by photographer, Tim
Walker, were published in the September issue of Vogue Italia, 1999, showcasing
models in action covering their faces with accessories such as handbags and
umbrellas to draw attention to the clothing instead.
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| Tim Walker for Vogue Italia, September 1999 |
Neither
West nor Gvasalia have acknowledged the uncanny similarity between their
campaigns and Walker’s photos.
With
the increasing power of social media and an influx of “new” ways to promote fashion,
are Yeezy and Balenciaga just the start of a major shift in the future of fashion week and runway shows?
Love, LAUR
Written: Feb. 4
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