Penis Bikini Tops, Big Bird Gowns & Sofia Loren Inspo: Why VFiles Is the Greatest Show on Earth
The crowd for the VFiles’s VRunway show on Wednesday night extended down Varick Street and nearly around the corner of Canal. Taking a look at the attendees, one might have thought that it was a second coming of Tunnel nightclub — actually that’s tonight, with Marc Jacobs — rather than a stylized New York Fashion Week show. The outfits off the runway were as captivating as what was being shown — and that’s saying a lot. But the VFiles crowd has always marched to the beat of their own drum, and that’s why it works. For example, where else could a woman wearing a white tank dress that is slit up to her side boob revealing black strappy latex underwear paired with tube socks and normcore sneakers feel safe? “Tonight I just wanted to feel my feminism,” this wonderful creature called Vivian told Yahoo Style. “I mean, I do feel exposed. I had to have an Uber pick me up at my building, but yeah, I feel comfortable.”
Or there was Sussi, a fledgling nightlife star turned VFiles shopboy reminiscent of Leigh Bowery in goth makeup, a vintage Gaultier dress, “choker from a sex store, and hair from Fulton Street Mall — shout out to Brooklyn!” He described his look as simple. “Usually there is some shit glued to my head, and flames coming out of my tits.”
Pop star Brooke Candy, who sported a foot-high blond mohawk described her distressed denim ensemble as “David Bowie meets Wendy O meets Texas strip life,” and said that the VFiles show/scene is significant because, “I think this is one of the only shows at fashion week that features broad talent, hungry talent. They’re doing something different, they’re not playing by any rules and I think that’s cool.”
“It’s created a space for such young, new talent,” concurred Sussi. “And fresh faces to get their start. And the community there really supports everyone. There’s no competition. When you’re there and you’re part of that team, you can be the dog groomer, it doesn’t matter! They support you.”
Candy was right in that traditional rules do not apply when it comes to the multi-platform media company’s bi-annual show. All aspects of the production including designers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, photographer, and models were discovered on the VFiles.com social network (basically a Pinterest for the cool kids). The entries were then vetted by industry all-stars including Mel Ottenberg (Rihanna’s stylist), Calvin Klein’s Italo Zucchelli, and Dirk Standen.
So who won the lottery? There was Kozaburo from Toyko, Feng Chen Wang from London (by way of Beijing), Portugeuse designer David Ferreira, and NYC-based labels Namilia and Moses Gauntlett Cheng. With folks like Colton Haynes and Nicola Formichetti watching on, the newbie designers delivered some of the most outrageous looks that we’ll see in New York.
Namila models wore short shorts with giant inflatable snakes strapped to their waists, glittery bikini tops in the shape of penises, and models ensconced in a giant hearts that were adorned with emoji stickers. Kozaburo was a bit tamer with patchwork denim jeans and sweatshirts that will be sure to be scooped up by Rihanna, who gets first dibs on all of these looks thanks to Ottenberg. Speaking of Rih, Ferreira’s bright yellow feathery creations looked an awful lot like the pop star’s Met Ball cape that launched a thousand memes.
The collection that perhaps drew the biggest gaps was Moses Gauntlett Cheng, a New York (by way of New Jersey) trio who showed a diverse casting of male, female, and trans friends — as well as one of their mothers in a sheer black frock — in looks that were inspired by Sophia Loren as a ravaged farm wife. “It became this kind of fantasy that we built up in our heads, like it was a sexy Italian farm wife and maybe she was escaping,” they said after the show. “We built a story out of it. And then it became maybe she lives in Jersey and you know, it’s a bit of Sopranos, and I think a real important reference image for us was an incredible picture of Sophia Loren. Like current day, like 80 years old, on the red carpet — choker, sunglasses, earrings, done. We wanted the clothes to have some sort of ratty, tatty, farmy gathering kind of stuff happening, but real self-aware glam.”
At the VFiles show, these kind of mish mashed references make perfect sense. Click ahead for the most intriguing looks from the show, in all their emoji-embellished, Big Bird-gown glory. There’s enough new ideas here to keep the art-damaged club kids inspired for months.
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