February 14, 2022 |
If anyone was going to turn a fashion show into a three-day experimental event, it was always going to be Shayne Oliver. Returning to the fashion firmament after an almost five-year hiatus, he reemerged with what was more than a typical runway but rather an art, music and clothing combustion.
Dubbed Headless, it was a system disrupting co-ed collection that trampled on convention. But after over two years of digital presentations and far too few IRL catwalks, Headless may have been just the ingenious multimedia project we didn’t even know we needed.
Alongside his revitalisation of Hood By Air, and his exhibition-oriented creative studio Anonymous Club, the designer has launched a ready-to-wear line under his own name.
It was all very denotive of Oliver’s usual anti-fashion disposition and anarchic design hand, fuelled by his community of collaborators in the Big Apple.
The namesake show kicked off with a series of black toiles dripping in Swarovski crystals. Each look corresponded with a track from the yet-to-be-released album he’s been working on with Venesualian musician Arca, as part of the pair’s ongoing Wench musical project. Horned headgear, bug-eyed goggles and elongated boots with pointed toes comparable to Grinchian clown feet added to a nightmarish feel.
It was decidedly avant-garde. Oliver met streetwear with high-concept luxury, chock-full of straps and skin between strange, sensual cutouts and exaggerated spikey shoulder pads. He even called upon Benjamin Langford’s Botanical illustrations which were then cut and draped to become mesmerising ball gowns.
From start to finish models romped around the space without warning – or a catwalk – weaving between the art-world glitterati, celebrities and former Hood By Air collaborators in attendance. Their faces bloomed with flowers and glistening piercings, courtesy of Pat McGrath.
Set in The Shed’s Griffin Theatre at Hudson Yards, models found their stride on a scaffolded platform, white roses in hand. And to end it all off, Eartheater performed in a papery dress like a demonic bride wailing her siren song into the mic, followed by two nearly-nude accomplices. Not for the faint hearted? Sure. But was Oliver ever going to play it safe?
Photography courtesy of ShayneOliver.
