Wang dragged his audience all the way to the other side of infamous Brooklyn on a frosty New-Yorker Saturday for his Fall/Winter 2014 collection, and none of them knew what to expect. But were they disappointed? The huffing and grunting is always a regret with Wang. Holding the show at Duggal Greenhouse, in the Navy Yard that advertises eco-friendly sustainable energy, was an exceptionally fitting venue for Wang’s urban take on “city survival and extreme conditions”, as the designer himself mentioned at a preview. The show commenced with flashes of lightning, thunder and rain pouring followed with his models in pasted short-cut hairs and invisible, waxed eyebrows, as robots, clothes in Wang’s creations of referred hunting, mountain climbing and outdoor sports that seemed remotely urban.
To survive in a big city requires two things: an exceptional coat and walking boots. And Wang had both, where his outerwear was the strongest suit in the collection. Pasted models walking down the runway with thick knitted sweater dressed, oversized woolen utilitarian coats with never-ending amounts of pockets, sleek shifted jumpsuits cut above knees, a oversized bright-blue and neon yellow anoraks that were perfect to keep a cozy winter rush-hour chaos. A slick black parka with a mountain-scape in green and purple simply made the huge cut alongside the inside-out woolen coats and baggy leather trousers with drawstrings on the sides. The rest were a couple of suede dresses, black zigzag printed mesh pullovers and knee-length riding boots that appeared to be backless.
The audience’s huffing and puffing became “oohs” and “aahs” in extreme admiration when the models returned back in a pitch black, music-less hall and all they could hear was the sound of a heartbeat. Needless to know that was Wang’s closing statement of his collection, with models gathered in a circle, standing in fierce stances as they showed off their heat-activated laser overcoats. The final last seconds of the show was followed by the exiting of their audiences, scurrying to catch cabs in the wintry New York streets, trying to make it back to Manhattan. But they were not disappointed – as expected – it’s Alexander Wang! (Text Nadilla Sari Ratman)