Politics take front row seat at New York Fashion Week

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The presidential election cast a long shadow over New York Fashion Week, with politics taking a front row seat. Some highlights:

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FEMINIST INSPIRATION — AND THOUGHTS ON A FEMALE PRESIDENT — AT PRABAL GURUNG

Prabal Gurung went on the road for inspiration for his latest collection. With Gloria Steinem.

Not literally. But the designer, who puts lots of research into each new season, read Steinem’s recent memoir, “Life on the Road,” and was inspired by her journey — and her “strength and stark determination to fight for feminism with a bite.” In an interview, Gurung also noted that Steinem, now 82, was a personal hero to his own mother.

How did that translate into Gurung’s always luxurious and complex designs this season? “The notion of modern feminism is reflected in a loosening of silhouettes juxtaposed with refined tailoring, creating a fluid offering that gives her the power of choice,” he wrote in his production notes.

Backstage before his Sunday evening runway show — which he downscaled to a venue that seats 400, rather than his usual 800, so people could see the detail in the clothes better — Gurung mused further about the feminist struggle, and the possibility of the first female president of the United States.

“As (the possibility) comes closer, we take it for granted,” he said, but Hillary Clinton becoming president “would be a huge, big message” to the world. “So for me, I wanted to find out, how did she end up here? I went back to the feminist movement from Harriet Tubman to Susan B. Anthony to Gloria Steinem.”

Would a female president be comfortable in the high-fashion items — luxurious cashmere, silk and satin; body-hugging gowns; skirts with high slits — that Gurung sent down the runway?

Gurung pointed to the last three outfits. Usually he might end with a glamorous gown, but in this case, the final outfits were all versions of pantsuits. The last, especially, seemed powerful: a black pantsuit “with gunmetal script embroidery with released chain.” In an intriguing aside about the outfit written in his production notes, the designer remarked: “Our backs tell the story no books have the spine to carry.”

–Jocelyn Noveck and Nicole Evatt

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QUIZ SHOW FASHION AT OPENING CEREMONY

Opening Ceremony, always game for something different at New York Fashion Week, threw a “Pageant of the People” hosted by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein with a star-studded panel that took on tough issues ranging from personal identity to prison reform.

Staged on Sunday night at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, named for the left-leaning Republican senator from New York, the pageant had the two “Portlandia” creators trying to crack the grim runway demeanours of runway models as they emceed, quizzing Whoopi Goldberg, Rashida Jones, Aidy Bryant, comic Ali Wong, Natasha Lyonne, transgender activist Sarah McBride and others who strutted the runway in looks from the brand.

This came after a parade of flags from 50 countries that provided some of the first immigrants to the U.S. And all with a clear message from Opening Ceremony designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon: In this unpredictable election cycle, DO get out and vote!

Jones, formerly of TV’s “Parks and Recreation” and more recently the comedy series “Angie Tribeca,” deftly fielded a refugee question from Brownstein. Asked why we should care about the world’s refugees when we have enough problems here in America, she referenced the millions of refugees from Syria and offered:

“I would venture to say a lot of us here are descendants of immigrants and refugees and slaves, and look where we are. We’re so lucky. We’re so privileged.”

–Leanne Italie