This New York Fashion Week show just predicted the most unexpected trend
Anika ReedNEW YORK – The New York Times, the Financial Times and the New York Post walk into a fashion show.
It's not the start of a corny joke, but the crux of designer Brandon Maxwell's latest runway show Tuesday, ahead of New York Fashion Week.
As the first model emerged, it wasn't the belt operating as a top or the multicolor plaid blazer and slinky black skirt that caught the eye: It was the issue of the Financial Times, with its distinctly pale yellow hue, tucked into the side of a purse.
The designer celebrated his 10th anniversary show Sept. 9 and kicked off a busy fashion season with an ode to yesteryear. Newsprint accessorized, equally as important as the bags upon which it was affixed. A-list celebrities surrounded by camera flashes didn't round out the front row – fashion editors, designers and industry experts did. Plaid and floral prints transported attendees back to the '60s.
There were even invitations printed as custom Brandon Maxwell newspapers.
The show at Sotheby's current headquarters (before the auction house soon changes locations to the Breuer Building on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile) provided a nostalgic scene, as Maxwell tends to select unique backdrops for his shows, from among the taxidermy at the American Museum of Natural History to the vintage pickup trucks at Manhattan's Classic Car Club.
"A decade ago, my mom asked me what it would take for me to consider my brand a success. '10 years,' I told her. And here we are. That was quick," the designer said in the show notes, left upon attendees' seats. "Since then, my perception of success has evolved in tandem with my work."
That evolution, it seems, is fit to print. In an era where media literacy is declining and "fast" defines both fashion and news, Maxwell's message is that what's "old" can be chic again.
"In the face of the challenges that come with running an independently-owned American fashion brand today, the courage to grow and unfold in relentless pursuit of passion is a success all its own. This collection is the next chapter in my novel, written with hints of personal nostalgia, notes of the people and places that raised me, and nods to my sartorial heroes," he wrote in the show notes.
And in the words of Beyoncé, a Texan like Maxwell, "Big B and that B stands for…" all the personal touches the designer brings from his Longview, Texas, upbringing: bolo ties, belt buckles and big wraparound visor sunglasses.