Are short films the new runway for the fashion world?
While the rest of New York prepares for Fashion Week, Rag & Bone has decided to eschew their annual runway show, and instead debut their latest collection with a short film released this week.
The film, Why Can’t We Get Along, stars actors Kate Mara and Ansel Elgort in an interpretive dance (along with a group of professional dancers), and was choreographed by New York City Ballet's Benjamin Millepied.
Filmed in a Brooklyn warehouse, the short video showcases Rag & Bone’s spring-summer 2018 collection. The film - which features a soundtrack by Radiohead's Thom York - was unveiled at a special screening in New York, and has been released on YouTube.
“Not doing shows anymore and having pulled out of fashion week [means] we’re just focusing on creating awesome content that represents our philosophy as a brand,” Marcus Wainwright, co-founder of Rag & Bone, told WWD.
“We did 20-odd shows in our years as a runway brand, [but] it just began to feel very stale for us.
Rag & Bone is not the only label moving away from the traditional runway show; according to WWD, Vera Wang is planning a film instead of showing at New York Fashion Week.
So is this the beginning of a new era in fashion? While the FROW is notoriously exclusive, a video can be shared across the globe in an instant. Collaborations with performers, choreographers and filmmakers are also an opportunity to recreate all the exciting creativity of the runway. While it's certainly not the end for Fashion Week, in the age of YouTube era, it's safe to expect an explosion of fashion films on our screens.