Has Frieze become an unofficial fashion week?

It was a crisp and glowing fall morning in London, and inside the Black Chapel designed by artist Theaster Gates for the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park, a present was underway.

Artwork world luminaries similar to Michael Craig-Martin, Eva Rothschild, Rana Begum and Hans Ulricht Obrist surveyed placing sculptural ensembles in shades of amethyst, coral, aquamarine and chartreuse. However the occasion wasn’t a part of Frieze London, the latest glitzy and gargantuan modern artwork honest. As a substitute, it was the most recent runway present for Roksanda Ilincic at her spring 2023 runway present.

Ilincic’s present was initially deliberate for London Vogue Week, but it surely was postponed for Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral. That turned out to have a silver lining.

“A lot of my shoppers come from the artwork world,” Ilincic mentioned at her studio earlier than the present, leafing by means of the ruffles of taffeta that later bloomed on the catwalk like rose petals. “Often they don’t seem to be ready to return to my reveals, however this week they’re all on the town. So it has been pretty to deliver these worlds collectively.”

Ilincic was not the one designer benefiting from Frieze and its rich, well-heeled throngs of gallerists and collectors. Off-White, Boss, Prada and Marc Jacobs all staged large events throughout the week.

Hours after Ilincic’s present, Sarah Burton confirmed her newest womenswear assortment for Alexander McQueen alongside the banks of the River Thames on the Outdated Royal Naval School in Greenwich. Not that she would see herself as following the group. The British luxurious model first confirmed stand-alone reveals alongside Frieze — one for the business, and one for shoppers — final 12 months.

“I like displaying in London,” Burton mentioned. “Right here you’ve acquired this unbelievable music faculty, which was a naval faculty filled with a lot historical past, and throughout the river you’ve acquired the trendy metropolis. That’s the wonderful thing about London. Outdated and new survive hand in hand by some means.”

The present, which was held inside a cloudlike bubble by means of which one may spy the towering architectural emblems of the British male institution previous and current, dissected notions of feminine dressing. Or within the phrases of the designer, “How do you costume a girl to empower her within the instances we dwell in?”

“In the end,” she mentioned, “that is a couple of lady dressing for a lady and never a male gaze.”

There was razor-sharp tailoring in black, cobalt blue and scarlet crimson — colours that additionally emerged on viscose knit clothes made of cloth slices that peeled away to disclose slivers of flesh. Pores and skin has been very a lot on this season, and it was right here, too. There have been tuxedo jackets that uncovered the torso, paired with low-rise trousers that recalled the label’s “bumster” lower from the Nineteen Nineties; corseted minidresses with cascading leather-based overlays; peekaboo denim jumpsuits; and a spangled leotard modeled by Naomi Campbell with cutouts across the thighs and shoulders.

The attention was a recurring image. So, too, had been embroidered references to the Early Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch and his “Backyard of Earthly Delights” — a nod, Burton mentioned, to the sensation that “we’re in one other Darkish Ages.”

Occasions are unsure, no query, particularly right here in London with a plummeting pound and precarious new authorities. So Raf Simons, ever the anarchist at coronary heart, held an enormous and gritty techno rave on the big Printworks complicated within the Rotherhithe district. Neglect the Champagne and velvet ropes of Mayfair galleries. Right here, everybody was invited.

The commercial area heaved with 1000’s of individuals together with suited executives, business insiders, membership children and trend college students. They had been all standing shoulder to shoulder when, immediately, an extended bar sloshing with beer and vodka became a runway with fashions stomping out of the shadows. Women and men wore cropped rompers in paper-thin linens or knits, sleeveless jackets with fishnet vests, graphic tees with handwritten slogans like “Kill Them All and Dance” — a collaboration with the property of the late Belgian artist Philippe Vandenberg.

There was additionally loads of immaculate minimalist tailoring, teamed with Crayola-colored leggings and glossy kitten heels or chunky black boots.

It was defiant and hedonistic, sweaty and grungy — and it made sense that Simons had postponed his present after the queen’s demise. After taking his finale bow, Simons stunned the viewers by leaping straight into the group.

Much less stunning was his motivation for displaying in London. Simons instructed the Night Commonplace that he had initially determined to maneuver his present to London after — you guessed it — attending Frieze final 12 months.

Or, as some have began calling it, the Fifth Vogue Week.

This text initially appeared in The New York Occasions.

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