Designer’s catwalk show celebrates enduring power of traditional aesthetic values with seductive, sleek daywear
Kanye West, as usual, nailed the fashion zeitgeist. In the week when West declared himself to be $53m in debt, New York fashion week jettisoned its familiar high-rolling, wealth-signalling aesthetic in favour of utilitarian layering, dialled-down eveningwear, grunge and deconstruction and utility. Off the catwalk, unusually low temperatures put a brake on the peacock tendencies of the audience, and saw beanies and boots dominate the front row.
But when Ralph Lauren’s turn on the catwalk comes around, the good times still roll. Ralph does not do gritty. The brand sells a lifestyle of comfortable, discreet affluence that will never lose its appeal to consumers, even (or especially) when it is more fantasy than aspiration. The entrance to the catwalk venue was dominated by a floral arrangement the size of a tree, a white urn filled with hundreds and hundreds of perfect red roses. As a mission statement celebrating the enduring power of traditional aesthetic values, it said it all.