Why scream into the void when you can dress for it? That’s the question I ask myself as I try on designer clothes that will not zip over my boobs, despite boobs being the thing to have this season—at least according to the very designers whose clothes will not accommodate mine. Sure, I can just wear a bra with the Khaite jeans of my dreams, but Katie Holmes already did that—in Khaite, no less!—but I lack the $400 cashmere bra to pull of that kind of cosplay.
In fact, cosplay seems to be the vibe of the moment. It’s a graft instead of a riff—a costume, not a creation—and it’s happening a lot in our lives right now. We see it on the streets, where it’s impossible to tell if the guy you bumped into was Pete Davidson, or someone just having a really good hoodie day. We see it on Spotify, where Doja Cat’s cover of “Celebrity Skin” is so growl-for-growl with Courtney Love’s original, you wonder if it’s a kind of fan fiction. And of course it’s happening in fashion, where “90s grunge inspo” becomes a plaid-for-plaid copy of an old Shirley Manson outfit, instead of a springboard for whatever’s next.
But look, it’s not surprising. The past two years have compressed and conflated our senses of memory and desire, short-circuiting the distance between who we think we are and who we want to be. We’ve already seen some copycats this Fashion Week—and it’s only Day One!—but we’ve also met a slew of new talent ready to shine, watched established names raise their own bars, and stayed up too late at Georgia Room, because… well, these deadlines don’t miss themselves.
Here’s what kept us sane, intrigued, and sometimes downright delighted on Day One of New York Fashion Week—including some cosplay forays that actually worked out for the best.
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