A NO-IMPACT FASHION SHOW? Y/PROJECT'S AW22 SET WAS IN AN UNMODIFIED DISTRIBUTION WAREHOUSE
Photo Jules Toulet
16 feb 2022, for frame
Location
39 Rue des Cheminots, 75018 Paris, France
Design, Production
Brand
Music
Site
DPD France
The first collaboration between streetwear brand Y/Project and production company Back of the House featured a 340-m-long runway. Its unconventional setting didn't come at the price of production value.
Y/Project’s show displayed a capsule collection conceived in partnership with Jean Paul Gaultier and footwear brand Diemme. There were no new builds involved in the show: it took over the existing interior of a transportation garage for postal company DPD, situated in an industrial zone of Paris’ 18th arrondissement. Right after the show, the activities at DPD France went back to normal – the chairs were reusable and returned to their rental company upon its completion.
A pair of yellow rails framed the width of the exceptionally long runway, cutting into a grey patchy concrete floor. Rhythmically placed white lightboxes led to the backdrop, a yellow wall. Half painted in red, industrial concrete columns bore grand white numbers with DPD’s logo noticeably in the background. The greyness of the environment was broken up by a red technical crane. Appropriately, the underground interior’s structural rawness mirrored the prints of the presentation, inspired by the Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic Spring 1996 collection Cyberbaba Body Illusion.
Frame's take
Back of the House is a production company focusing on fashion shows and luxury events, from location scouting to scenography. According to their ethos, if the identity of a venue is powerful enough, there is no need for copious new design elements: rather, the show-worthiness comes naturally. As a result, the Y/ Project AW22 runway provides a relevant example to the conversation surrounding sustainibility in fashion shows. Undoubtedly, we will see more shows conceptualized like this going forward: the spaces created for sets usually only exist for the duration of a show, but the DPD garage is there to stay.