Posted by models.com | September 14th, 2015
Alexander Wang’s spring summer 2016 show, the first after his announcement of his impending departure from Balenciaga, also happens to be the brand’s 10 year anniversary. The designer continues to zero-in on his product and its devout following, which meant a refining of all the Wang calling cards–mainly the straight-off-the street energy and downtown sensibilities. A recognizable cast of Wang repeats and soon to be breakouts executed the show from muse and show closer Anna Ewers, opener Lexi Boling and frequenters Hanne Gaby to Kasia Struss and Irina Kravchenko to new faces Frida Westerlund and Peyton Knight, plus a handful of cool male models. They all made up the definitive club of the most in-demand girls and boys, true to form when it comes to his casting choices. For beauty the recipe was pretty much straight forward– relying purely on sulking pouts and undone hair with some fantastic career changing haircuts for a few of the newbies. The energy of the runway was still brooding, but perhaps less so than seasons past. This collection felt more celebratory, ergo a bit of cooler-than-thou confidence shone through the bevy of brash fabric pairings with those signature chain and spike details, all still fit for the underground and the eternally cool world of Wang.
See our behind-the-scenes footage from the show here
See our footage of the collection below.
Designer Alexander Wang
Stylist Karl Templer (Streeters London)
Hair Guido Palau (Art + Commerce)
Makeup Diane Kendal (Art + Commerce)
Female model casting: Anita Bitton (Establishment Casting)
Male model casting: Henry Thomas
Text by Steven Yatsko
Casting board photo by Betty Sze
All other photos: First Looks and Runway Julia Chesky for Models.com
Never seen such a self-hate designer who doesn’t cast Asian models for his anniversary show. Last season it was him who casted no Asian models for Balenciaga and he repeated the same streak this season. Same goes for Jason Wu. While many people fight for diversity, big name designers like Wang and Jason Wu refused to cast models from their OWN race.
Was disappointed Fei Fei wasn’t in the lineup. She had consistently walked for Wang the last 6 seasons.
I, as someone who pays strong attention to the diversity on the runway in the past years, unfortunately had the same feelings for lots of major Asian designers too, especially this season. If Asian designers wouldn’t cast Asian models, why should we even complain about the lack of diversity on the Victoria Beckham, Valentino or Dior runways? I mean, even Karl Lagerfeld casts more Asian models for Chanel.
looks like crap frankly