The difference between Rihanna's Savage x Fenty and Victoria's Secret – WWD

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As anyone who has attended Fashion Week for more than 10 years can tell you, there are only a few shows each season in New York that attract people.

Most fashion shows in New York tend to be de rigueur, with collections practical and portable with an interest created by a marketing blitz presented along the parades (Cheetos, you tempted?). But the members of the industry that WWD has spoke with during last week said this NYFW was an exception. Young emerging creators, as well as established creators, have generated unprecedented enthusiasm.

But nothing seemed to create more buzz than Rihanna's Savage x Fenty's invitation. The invitation itself was mysterious and the location was "Brooklyn". The day before, it was revealed that the event would take place at the Barclays Center and that there would be musical performances – including that guests' phones would be "locked". "And any photography would be prohibited because the show would be broadcast exclusively on Amazon on September 20.

It was Tuesday at 8:10 pm, the penultimate day of New York Fashion Week, when I entered Barclays Center with my colleague, Leigh Nordstrom. Also coincide that it was, last year, it's also Leigh with whom I attended Victoria's secret fashion show, with in November. It was his first show VS, my fifth. None of us had attended a fashion show run by Rihanna before.

As soon as I entered, I had to put my iPhone back, putting it out of my hands for the first time in days. The security locked him in a mini dive suit pouch and I had time to think about it.

No Instagram. Does it matter even if I can not prove that I was there?

But Rihanna! Live music! Atmosphere! Anticipation! It reminded me of the days when Victoria's Secret banned cell phone photography. and the guests were given small gray cellophane bags to put their smartphones on. I remember some editors of major media companies who had broken the rules at the time, risking posting event content on social media. It seemed worth it then.

Yondr Tuesday night neoprene smartphone cases were much more official – no cheating here with a magnetic lock (although those who have succeeded sneaking into their phones and filming during the show have their devices confiscated by the security that was watching carefully in the dark of the arena).

While sitting at 9:40, a voice announced that everyone present was "hand-picked" to attend and we were encouraged to cheer and dance. We waited and watched the guests arrive, from Ashley Graham to Ashley Benson, until the show started quickly at 9:43 pm. Less than 15 minutes after the scheduled start time at 9:30.

The darkness settled in the overall worthy Hollywood with Giorgio de Chirico-filled building structures with stairs, arched doors and ramps centered around a pond of water in the center. Ancient Greece meets Futurism. All surreal. In the dark, the machinists and dancers set themselves up and remained motionless.

The lights went on and she was there. People shouted.

Dressed in a pure illusion Combining under a black bra and a miniskirt with pointy high-heeled boots, Rihanna played wordlessly and flawlessly among a group of dancers dressed in black lingerie and white sneakers and sweaty sports socks.

Then, act by act, dancers of all races, all types and all genders would have set up in different vignettes, dancing their hearts.

The models were interspersed with dancers and other artists. Gigi Hadid was the first model to "open" the show and …this is where it crystallizes for my self without iPhone: Seeing it the dancers in sneakers was a marked contrast of the rocker and strutting that the models are in stiletto heels at the VS Show. I would always cringe seeing the models walking, these podiums tremble and almost lose their foot, again and again, in these slender shoes.

Covering the market, the month leading up to the Victoria's Secret fashion show, I'm usually inundated with speeches about "How to Train Like a Victoria's Secret Angel" and Meetings with Official Facials and Spray Tanners for Models of the parade. All this sets the tone that perfection is the goal.

At Savage x Fenty, everyone looked comfortable, happy and as if they were participating in they were modeling. They owned it.

In a vignette, Laverne Cox emerged in a bright pink body kicking and dancing. C & # 39; was exhilarating, a decisive moment. She was lively and full of life.

Coming out of VS's annual show, I've always had a mix of emotions as a woman, as a writer and a rabid consumer of pop culture. I spent time with his models backstage and before the big event (I even tried wings, and let me tell you that wearing them balancing on the stiletto heels, not to mention the hair extensions and eyelashes, is nothing less than Olympian). Of course, there was beauty there, but it was a singular and carved one of a male ideal.

I've always left VS with a feeling lower than.

As my colleague Andrew Shang, who reviewed the collection, so aptly put it, "Savage x Fenty was created for the feminine look, not the masculine look. "

It was as if Rihanna were telling women, "Why do you fear that you are not good enough when you should just be doing yourself?

And judging by the glowing expressions of my fellow onlookers, who are inclined to leave a fashion show to separate what they have just seen or complain about going to the next step, I don 't want to go out. was not alone in my feelings. It's not every day that fashion folks are happy in droves. Let Rihanna create a sense of personal love while reducing our screen time.