You really never know what you are going to see in New York City at any given time and how a simple walk to the office of a friend can find you stumbling upon something interesting and really cool. Such was the case that I would find while heading over to a publicist’s office to pick up some new review materials for PiercingMetal.com. I was in Times Square, and the day was nice, so I decided to walk down Broadway even though their office was a good mile down the avenue. As I began the wander I realized that as far as my eye could see, how mannequins dressed up in very detailed designs were positioned along the same path I was going. This was New York’s Fashion District and I had accidentally come upon a public art project called “Sidewalk Catwalk”. Walk with me for a few minutes.
This project was set up between 34th Street and Times Square and was said to feature over thirty mannequins by New York local designers. I would find this out later on of course after doing some research. Since I had my camera with me, I decided to snap an image of the ones I was passing as I made my way Downtown. Catherine’s design seemed to be an American flag covered by mere plastic. While I have a couple of shirts with the national colors on them, I am a little weird about how its image is used.
Some of the designs were better than others I found myself thinking as I quickly walked by them, and I apologize for not knowing what went into each and every design of the garb. In the end this gives you something to more to research and possibly find additional interest in. This one above by the Parson’s students was rather cool and actually had real moss involved in its design.
Since I had not walked this particular strip of the city for a few months I was unaware that this exhibit had been set up since June and was going to end in a few short weeks. Talk about fortuitous timing. Mr. Burrow’s design looked like it was ready for the Academy Awards show.
You might be noticing that there are chairs and tables set up along this strip that I speak of and that is not your eyes playing tricks on you and instead the relatively new “pedestrian plazas” that Mayor Bloomberg had installed. I must admit that I have a mixed opinion of the plazas because when its just a place for tourists to sit around and be in passerby’s way, then they are a terrible thing. However, when used for something as eye-catching as this, then I applaud their existence.
This was a quirky one and found me thinking the mannequin was covered in marshmallows or something. Of course when you look very closely you will see that they are actually seashells.
This outfit looks hot and I don’t just mean in style but in its material. That is burlap my friends.
Norma’s design was a walking, err stationary advertisement about her website. Here I was thinking I was a commercial for my stuff and hey, have you checked out PiercingMetal.com yet?
This particular one had a feeling of decay and foreboding. It was more Indian themed than it came off as being.
No bouquet on Badgely’s design, but I guess it was not supposed to be a bridal gown.
Rebecca had a nice summery looking design. I could see any number of young ladies enjoying this outfit on a hot day.
I rather enjoyed this one the most since it displayed the nation’s colors. I will remain hopeful that the mannequins being covered by the flag is not some political statement since that stuff generally annoys me.
I just had to photograph our flag wearing Hilfiger mannequin again to get a better idea of how it looked from a different angle. This was really one of my favorites, and that surprised me since I am not all that keen on Tommy’s fashions.
I’ve heard the saying of being dressed in rags, but this mannequin appears to be dressed in garbage bags. It is in reality something more akin to a parachute.
Is this Mrs. Rorschach? Sorry friends, you need to have read or seen “The Watchmen” to know what I am talking about with this reference. The comic book geek in me brought this thought to my mind. Of course the design is Ms. Furstenberg’s and has nothing to do with the great storyline I bring up.
I was unimpressed by this one in all honesty because it seemed to be too plain in comparison to its other mannequin sisters. I would later find out that it was done in homage to the late Alexander McQueen so I take my view back on it.
One of the designs was put together by students from the FIT school which is nearby. That’s the Fashion Institute of Technology for those in the dark. I felt that this was the most “Metal” of the designs which was cool since this was not a Metal event in any, dare I say, fashion (LOL, so witty).
This one was pretty cool as well and the material used in this mannequins design appeared to be the same used on all those Heavy Metal chic belts and gauntlets. Perhaps if there was a high end affair being held by Metal royalty we would see some dresses like this making an appearance.
Maybe some of those FIT students want to design a shirt to be used for PiercingMetal.com, hmmm, the possibilities.
Pretty cool use of studs and gold stuffs on this one. I could almost see this as an outfit for Tarja Turunen during one of her shows. Hey, she changes about five times so why not.
This mannequin was built like a brick house LOLOL, I’m sorry I couldn’t resist the chance to be a little corny. Here is one more for you “damn that mannequin is stacked”. OK, I’m done.
This design was that of Betsey Johnson was very whimsical and kind of like the designer herself.
Rebecca’s design got my Russian blood flowing again and reminded me of the old country that I have never visited.
“Got Goth” was all I could think of when I saw Michael Kors design. I felt this to be the perfect outfit for any young lady hitting The 69 Eyes concerts or perhaps a Batman convention. Come on, tell me that some of this leather and plastic outfit doesn’t scream Caped Crusader to you.
I had to say that this was very cool to observe and a nice way to make a normally boring walk all the more interesting and pleasurable. This exhibit will end on Labor Day Weekend 2010 so try to see it before it goes away. When I walked this display I did so in reverse from Times Square back downtown to 34th Street, so if you know your designer, you might be able to pinpoint which designs they did. Their names are also listed in the order that I would have passed them, but I am thinking that I missed about ten of them. Sorry they were gone when I went back to see them.
Participating Designers: Norma Kamali, Nicole Miller, Catherine Malandrinco, Stephen Burrows, Adam Lippes, Kenneth Cole, Naeem Khan, Parsons, Isaac Mizrahi, Thom Browne, Jason Wu, Carlos Falchi, John Bartlett, Badgleye & Mischka, Jill Stuart, Rebecca Taylor, Tommy Hilfiger, Carmen Marc Valvo, Victor Alfaro, Dian von Furstenberg, Nanette Lepore, Prabal Gurlung, Isabel Toledo, Elie Tahari, Rachel Roy, Yeohlee Teng, Rebecca Moses, Michael Kors, Betsey Johnson, FIT, Maria Cornejo, Donna Karan.
these are neat! I gotta check these out in person.
Ken… this is great! I saw a couple of them and wanted to see more and it’s great to see all of these in one place! A couple are even kinda metal 🙂