Making a splash at NY FASHION WEEK

While New York Fashion Week is no stranger to the glitz, glamour, and genius of the world’s most celebrated designers, this year, the legendary Ralph Lauren has taken the catwalk by storm – literally. Using CGI technology, Lauren presented his Spring 2015 collection in a very big way:  in lieu of a traditional runway, Lauren opted instead to project a combination of live footage and computer-generated graphics onto a massive screen of water in Manhattan’s Central Park.

Reaching heights that even New York City would be proud of, each projection featured larger-than-life footage of Polo-clad models strutting before artificially-created scenes of the city – including, among others, a lit up Brooklyn Bridge, the streets of SoHo, and, of course, Central Park.  Although the depicted scenes of New York are entirely fabricated, the models that complement them are the real deal.  Using the same green screen technology popular and increasingly prevalent in Hollywood, Ralph Lauren’s team was able to transport the models into these surreal settings, transcending the traditional catwalk and contextualizing his collection within new and exciting realms.

While New York Fashion Week has come and gone and, having made it splashy debut on 8 September, Ralph Lauren’s tech-savvy show has since dried up, the spectacle has been immortalized as myriad images and videos available at the click of a mouse.  Although laptops and tablets are not yet hologram-compatible and water screens aren’t quite household objects, at this rate, who knows what the future holds for technology and fashion shows?

One thing is certain: New York Fashion Week 2015 has some big stilettos to fill.