Girls Run(way) The World

By Emeline Hutton

The West 18th Street Fashion Show started at dusk on June 11, 2022. Due to heated impending weather circumstances, what once was supposed to be an outdoor show with spotlights illuminating the runway and live music seeping through the evening air, was quickly hustled inside to the safety of AC.

The show was originally set to be staged upon the streets outside of The Bauer—a historic warehouse in the Crossroads District. The threat of impending thunderstorms left stagehands and set attendants tasked with rapidly packing up microphones, speakers, and bleachers to an interior location. Metal arches that were supposed to line the original runway were transported inside to embellish street-facing windows.

A new last-minute runway was crafted within The Bauer’s ballroom—a masterwork of MacGyvering from the production crew behind one of the city’s most expansive live performances.

Instead of walking a straight line down the street, stopping at the end of the runway and turning around, the models took a path in the shape of a rectangle, walking the perimeter of the ballroom.

The spotlights were replaced with string lights, and the pavement was swapped out for a hardwood floor. With such a short turnaround time for an event that was prepared to be outside for months in advance, the West 18th crew pulled it off without a hitch to be seen by the public. A phenomenal feat for the kind of production with hundreds of hours dedicated to perfecting its every frame.

Peregrine Honig, Senior Artistic Director, has been with the show since its inception in 2000. After this year she’ll be passing the torch to Missy IsaMoore, who will take over the same role starting with next year’s show—becoming West 18th’s leader and head of operations. But as much as strong leadership matters in this situation, the artistic thrust of this gigantic fashion production is as delightfully unhinged as the artists behind it insist upon.

Honig reminded the public that every year, West 18th comes with a bit of delightfully unpredictable chaos. “I mean no one really knows what fine art is anyway,” Honig says of the unpredictable nature of fashion presentation. “That’s the whole point.”

For the designers, the show offered the opportunity to show off their collections to the public. Courtney Varner, co-owner of NidaLu Handmade, says that the Medusa pendants featured in her collection had already come to fruition, so the show’s theme of “Summer Colosseum” seemed like the perfect opportunity to show them off.

The list of designers for the show included 3 Minc, Renee’ Larouge, Craig Rohner, Birdies, NidaLu Handmade, Red Hare Leather, 2S Design House, and Zaid Farouki.

From leather apparel to unisex daywear, these creators showed off their artistic talents, alongside their take on the show’s theme. All of the designers besides Zaid Farouki are local, and their storefronts can be found online, and on Instagram. Farouki is a Dubai-based designer, but can be found through the same platforms, and serves as a delightful outside influence to expand the boundaries of what this local production can tag in.