The Tamesis
The two temporary spaces in Xintiandi, the main venue of Shanghai Fashion Week, strongly reminded me of the tents in Bryant Park during New York Fashion Week. Security gates, sponsored stands (thanks to Lay’s for all the chips), rubber bands: functionally, it works well, but it’s not the theater of dreams.
So, props to Jacques Wei, who transformed his tent from rustic to decadent in just two hours. He had the models lingering from backstage between two painted bronze panther sculptures from his own collection. The actors then walked along the freshly carpeted performance space toward the orchestra, which was barely playing on the stage. Wei later said that in addition to his eternal idol Cher, the collection and fashion show were also inspired by Ye’s proposal to Kim Kardashian in 2013.
Camp, fabulous, unconventional and minimalist, Wei is a designer whose archetypes are sexy and rich, yet unorthodox. Thinking about his complex and sexy formula, he boldly stated: “I like weird proportions. It’s really easy to create beautiful proportions. Make the legs longer. But I think now I prefer to turn weird things into interesting things. It’s never weird to see beautiful things, but I think it’s interesting to see weird things.”
It was in response to a question about his extra-wide, low-slung draped skirt in soft silk satin, the strongest example yet of the drop-waist styling trend hitting multiple runways.
Other fun quirks included his fur (shearling) leopard print dress, a longer sheer spaghetti-strap dress with sparkling beads on the chest, paired with black socks and metallic sandals, and his gorgeously colored feather-fringed minidress, which had a sheer lace tulle edge that fell to her knees. There were plenty of animal touches, from zebra boots to python pants and floppy cuffs that accentuated texture and color.
Around these landmarks, Wei built a unique and extravagant landscape of luxury, from full-shoulder suits with square jewel-like buttons (sometimes worn by men) to a variety of draped, ruffled, form-fitting silk dresses, roomy trousers and backless shirts. Plenty of sparkling, low-hanging chains hung behind the heavy buns that adorned most of the cast. Wei’s experiments with extravagant weirdness create a very poised, charming character.
