Is This the Most Insane Runway Show of the Season?
If there’s one thing we’ve come to expect from an SSS World Corp fashion show, it’s Harleys. Diesel, electric, whatever—Justin O’Shea, the swaggering, tattooed don behind the brand, loves to include a big ol’ hog whenever his villainous tailoring hits the runway. So when we heard O’Shea was going to show his Fall-Winter 2020 collection in the Mojave Desert on a desolate stretch of Route 66, we were intrigued. Surely O’Shea would be breaking out some serious muscle on America’s most famous highway. And while he definitely did that, the most intriguing part of the show was the guest list: O’Shea only wanted to invite three people. (One of whom was his wife, plus their infant son.) O’Shea has had some ballsy ideas in the past (like casting Metallica in his debut campaign for Brioni), but a fashion show that pours gasoline on the entire premise of a fashion show? We begged for one of the two spots.
I didn’t get the invite—but, luckily, GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch did. And so on one December morning, Will hopped in a car with Vogue’s Steff Yotka for the drive from L.A. to a stretch of asphalt near Roy’s Motel & Cafe. These days, in any given season, covering the fashion-show circuit means you might have to jet to Malibu or Tokyo or Moscow for an off-schedule fashion show at practically any time. But a seven-hour round trip to witness a 15-minute fashion show in a forgotten corner of the Mojave Desert? Naturally, I called Will on his way back to Los Angeles to ask him what went down. Now, as New York Fashion Week kicks off in a few days’ time, we bring you Will's report from the front lines of what turned out to be one of the most insane runway shows of the season, as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes video that captures the SSS crew of bikers, boxers, and bruisers roaring their way to the runway.
GQ: I want to know how it felt to be invited to the most exclusive fashion show this season.
Will Welch: It was funny and awesome. Justin does a good job of having big, bold ideas, and 97 times out of 100, when he has a really big idea, he figures out how to get it done. He doesn't overthink or over-intellectualize things, but at the same time, whether he specifically intended it or not, the show functioned as an interesting commentary on fashion shows. Like, do you need an audience anymore? Because what you really, definitely need is for all the clothes to be photographed. Justin felt like, If all I need is for the clothes to be photographed, I get GQ and Vogue there, and that will be it. And like I said, I don't think he thinks about it this way, but I thought it was an interesting commentary on the runway show in the digital era, especially on the heels of something like Saint Laurent Malibu, or Dior in Miami, all the destination shows that people jet in from all over the world for. SSS had great production and as impressive of a setting, but just for two editors, his wife, and his kid.
Right, what is the SSS World Corp version of the Prada Tokyo show, or Chanel in Cuba or Vuitton in Brazil? It's definitely just taking some friends out to the desert with a bunch of motorcycles.
Exactly, and they're like, oh, here’s Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal doing AC/DC karaoke, because there was an AC/DC collaboration in the show.
So tell me about showing up and how the show unfolded.
A car with a really cool woman named Reggie picked up Steff from Vogue, and then they picked me up at the hotel where I was staying for GQ’s Men of the Year party. We drove three hours and change, way out to Route 66 in the Mojave Desert. Not long before we got there, I saw a sign that said, JOSHUA TREE: 46 MILES THAT WAY.”
So we're driving down Old Route 66, the most legendary road in America, and way up ahead I saw these ROAD CLOSED signs, and I was like, He did not close down Route 66, but that's what they'd done. They closed down a mile of Route 66. So we pulled up and saw the speakers set up and a couple of microphones. We got out of the car and joined Justin's partner, Veronika, who was there with their baby, Walter. The three of us stood there with our coolers full of water and Diet Coke across from the karaoke setup. Then the runway show started.
The models started about a mile down. A bunch of them were on Harleys, and then there was a big GMC pickup truck full of dudes hanging off it, Mad Max–style.
They all roared up about 1,000 feet down the road and then got off the Harleys and the truck, and there was a proper fashion lineup. Then Jesse Hughes started shredding AC/DC. He was crushing it. It was very Wedding Singer meets desert roadhouse bar meets AC/DC. And then they walked, and then they all climbed back on the motorcycles and on the truck and hauled ass off, and that was it.
What were the clothes like? I saw some tasty-looking flared leather pants on Instagram.
Justin said he was really trying to figure out the perfect modern flare. He said it's all about where the flare starts on the leg. And I think he figured it out: They had a high but not crazy-high rise, and were flared but didn’t look corny like a That ’70s Show costume.
And then there were all these really O'Shea-style aggressive plaids and suit jackets, and top coats and waistcoats and ties and shirts. And then he did the printed shirts with matching swim shorts, which were printed with references from Every Which Way but Loose, with Clint Eastwood, so like smashed beer cans and Palominos and stuff like that.
He said the inspirations were Bon Scott's style and a little bit of [AC/DC guitarist] Angus Young’s. Angus was the inspiration for the plaids in the show—Justin went to Scotland and got the real-deal plaids. And then two weeks ago, he said, he was watching Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall and saw the leather jackets and made a couple of those.
Do you think it was a successful show? Did Justin accomplish what he was trying to do?
It was SSS World Corp’s boldest, ballsiest, best show yet. The same energy as one of his shows at the Ritz in Paris, just in a very, very different setting.
Originally Appeared on GQ
