Staging and Set Design Inspiration: Highlights From Fashion Month

Under the glorious domed Rose Hills Foundation Garden Court of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy staged their Fall 2019 show on, for the first time, their home turf (it also marked a fashion show first for the Library). Presented in partnership with new female-focused luxury wine brand, JNSQ (named for the French phrase “je ne sais quoi”) and The Wonderful Company, the star-studded February 5 show perfectly complemented the historic venue’s manicured garden setting.

Produced by longstanding show partner Bureau Betak, Studio 54 came to Cipriani Wall Street for the retro-inspired February 13 Michael Kors show. With the runway (and venue) decked out in disco balls, it was all about channeling “Glamour, romance, individual style, New York's swinging West 50s in the seventies,” said Kors. Following a show closed by Patti Hansen clad in a gold sparkle pantsuit, none other than Barry Manilow took the stage to belt one of his most memorable hits, “Copacabana.”

For the February 11 Coach show at the American Stock Exchange building, longtime production and set designer Stefan Beckman created a kinetic sculpture filled with rich tones and materials that served as a centerpiece of the runway. “[Creative director] Stuart Vevers wanted an optimistic show with amber tones filled with beautiful light,” said Beckman.

It was hard not to be in a joyous mood at the February 21 Moschino show at MiCo—Milano Congressi when creative director Jeremy Scott created his own Price Is Right-style game show as a backdrop for the presentation, complete with “prizes” in the form of a shiny new car, washer-dryer, bedroom set, and refrigerator. The kitschy backdrop suited to a tee the Dynasty-decadent gowns, mini-dresses in Warholian-like prints of household cleaning products dripping with crystal embroideries and plenty of kitschy bags shaped like toothpaste tubes, hairdryers, cash registers, champagne bottles, and more. Random Production produced the show.

Arriving at the Fondazione Prada on February 21 was quite calming. The venue for Miuccia Prada’s seasonal shows was illuminated against the sunset while inside, it was dimly lit with large, glowing light bulbs spread out across the floor. Ambient music filled the room while seats were lined with comfortable acoustic fabric. The soundproof material also covered the sides of the catwalk. Booming techno then commenced, pulsating as a single spotlight shined on the opening model. Prada's in-house team produced the show, while Rem Koolhaas' OMA studio collaborated on the set.

In a tribute to a collection ripe with baroque, body-con pieces, the February 22 Versace show at the Milan Stock Exchange, produced by Sergio Salerni of Urban Production, featured a curvilinear runway chock full of Instagram-worthy moments in the form of massive safety-pin pieces peppering the set—a nod to the 1994 dress that put the Italian fashion house on the pop-culture map.

For her Fall 2019 Dior show, produced by Bureau Betak and held February 26 at the Musée Rodin in Paris, creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri enlisted Italian conceptual artist Bianca Pucciarelli Menna—better known by her pseudonym, Tomaso Binga—to design the show set. In a continuing renewal of the girl power set that has come to be the standard at Dior, the venue walls were adorned with naked images of Binga conjuring the alphabet, contorted into every letter of the alphabet.

A black, custom-built box at the Trocadéro Esplanade at the foot of the Eiffel Tower once again set the tone for Anthony Vaccarello’s Fall 2019 Saint Laurent show. Inspired by the Eighties power trio of Betty Catroux, Bianca Jagger, and Catherine Deneuve, the strong, sharp collection featured a finale rendered in pitch black darkness. The catch? Models, clad in their feathers, sequins, and leathers, walked behind a glass wall illuminated by blacklight, their neon pink and highlighter green shoes lighting up the runway.

In a nod toward a more melancholy mood for fall, Dries van Noten set his February 27 show in the concrete basement of the Palais de Tokyo. The dark scene, produced by Villa Eugenie, featured plenty of gray garments—with the models’s walks casting shadows on the runway. The raw, cold space gave the overall collection a haunting feeling.

Guests arriving at the Jardin des Plantes for the March 3 Givenchy show were greeted by dramatic, floodlit letters that spelled out "Givenchy." Served red candied apples, guests proceeded down a long walkway constructed inside the gardens, where, up above, the see-through tent space menacingly showcased large canopies of trees blowing in the wind. Clare Waight Keller's "Winter of Eden” collection, inspired by Adam and Eve, featured an abundance of reptilian references in the designs, rendered in a palette of blood red, vivid blue, peach, lime green. Villa Eugenie produced.

In a show that featured multiple acts, Thom Browne began with, well, where it all began: the classic tailored suit (now 10 years old). Scaling back the runway theatrics for his March 3 show produced by Back of the House, and using a set similar to the one he showcased at Pitti Uomo, Browne installed a glass enclosure at the center of the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts with 11 identical desks and typewriters. The first group of models emerged from within, clad in the same office-friendly wares.

As emotionally charged as the Chanel show was—it marked the first following Karl Lagerfeld’s passing only a few weeks prior—the designer took his guests high up into the mountains for a slice of snow-bound heaven. The winter wonderland March 5 show at the Grand Palais, produced by Villa Eugenie, featured an icicle-like tinkling on the soundtrack as the models first gathered on the snow-covered steps of a faux alpine hostelry, the Chanel Gardenia. Following a minute's silence, Lagerfeld’s voiceover from a recent podcast was broadcasted and then the show began. The mock Swiss village came alive as the models, surrounded by Chanel-branded skis, walked a runway of faux snow, showcasing the most coveted of wintery knits and accessories.

The highly dramatic Fall 2019 Louis Vuitton show featured the concept of a “museum within a museum.” From within one iconic cultural institution, another rose: located in the Cour Carrée of the Musée du Louvre, the interior and exterior scenography referenced the architecture of the Centre Pompidou which sits less than a mile away. Produced by La Mode en Images, the show had models walking the perimeter of the soaring space, with its metal scaffolding and internal workings painted primary colors.

As the final show of the Fall 2019 season, guests arriving at the Conseil Économique et Social for the March 5 Miu Miu show were greeted by black-walled corridors and felted carpet insulation. Paths led to a catwalk lined with illuminated photographs, video screens, and stacks of vintage televisions showing work by the young New Zealand-born, London-based artist Sharna Osborne. Once again, the show was produced by Villa Eugenie with a show set designed in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas' AMO research and design studio.