Fashion Month FW 2022 Set Designs

At the end of fashion month what remains? The certainty that fashion after the pandemic has changed, not on a formal level but on a conceptual and value level, and that shows in presence have a greater impact on the public, despite all the efforts made in recent years to make people consume fashion even in lockdown, compared to digital runways. Against this backdrop of a return to the new-normal, the importance of all the structural elements that make up the environment in which a collection is presented has become apparent. When you look at a fashion show, the details studied by the designers themselves are the first to attract attention, but they would not stand out so much if they were not inserted in a micro-world that shares values and guidelines with the concept of the collection. As in the theater an actor is an actor when he is on stage, also on the catwalk clothes and models play their role in the moment before, after and during the show, depending on the space delimited to make a creative vision become reality. The play of light composed by the relationship between the flooring, the positioning of the catwalk, and the infamous first rows with the seats where the guests are comfortably seated have returned to be elements capable of giving the collections an added value of wonder that pierces even the cameras that communicate the collections from the front rows, in a unique event. This month Balenciaga staged a snowstorm to exemplify the deep sense of uprooting that connects the victims of the current conflict to its personal history, Prada made us doubt the boundary between space and time and Jacquemus made us dream of a summer paradise still far away. Let's discover the most beautiful set designs of fashion month, most of them curated by the production, design and events agency born in Parifi in 1990, Bureau Betak. 

Bottega Veneta

Mathieu Blazy's first show brought to the stage his sartorial awareness directed in the creation of accessories for everyday life inside the historic Palazzo San Fedele in Milan, the company's new headquarters. From an acid green faux carpeted floor emerged ice cube-like seating, with a contrasting black cushion, on which Jacob Elordi's backside also rested.

Gucci

"Juxtaposition of worlds and meanings. Altering the stability of perception. Manipulating and magnifying the existing. Through these interventions, I celebrate clothes as real optical laboratories: magic machines that can give life to fairy tales of metamorphosis and re-enchantment." said Alessandro Michele on his Fall-Winter 2022 collection, which took place in a hallway with mirrored walls on which the reflection of white squares with black frames decorating the floor joined in a perceptual fantasy with colors, monograms and fluid models that have walked one of the most photographed catwalks of Milan Fashion Week.

Fendi

An open-air corridor crowned by a row of 8 concrete arches above the heads of Silvia Venturini Fendi, Kim Jones, the insiders and invitees to Fendi's FW22, where the concept of archive and historical research dominated the catwalk with plain colors like the past time for Fendi, an invaluable value for the fashion house that with its concreteness is the basis for a glimpse of the future of the Roman maison. 

Jacquemus

Simon Porte Jacquemus reasons with the belly of a fashion professional, but is on the same wavelength as his followers: when the fashion world is focused on next season's outerwear, he decides to show off in Hawaii, giving Instagram a way to dream of a summer paradise still far away. On the expanse of white sand of O'ahu the pop ocean blue catwalk stood out in contrast, setting the stage for the Spring/Summer 2022 collection. 

Balenciaga

The structure with stairs descending towards the center of the room was reminiscent of a semi-dark Roman amphitheater, to which the guests of Balenciaga's fashion show had access through a broken Iphone 6 as an invitation that already announced the disturbing attitude of the show, not new for the brand of the Georgian designer, who this time brought on stage his personal pain. The audience sat on seats on which was placed a t-shirt/blanket (containing a QR code to donate in support of the Ukrainian people) with which to shelter themselves while watching the catwalk in the middle of a snowstorm. Bringing to the stage the division between the world of those who watch and those who live in the storm through a thick glass panel, Demna exemplifies the raw and personal journey she shares with the protagonists of the Ukrainian-Russian war, launching a social message also with the impactful experience created thanks to set designer Nicke Bildstein Staar.

Marni

A cavernous space barely lit, suitable for a rave, the entrance wrapped in foliage, huge concrete blocks instead of an airstrip, and even more foliage framing this picture of lush dystopia in which the creative and artistic vision of Francesco Risso for Marni has developed. Bringing to the stage a collection doubtful of the future after the pandemic where tailoring meets not the unfinished and the concept of imperfection of hand mended garments rediscovering craftsmanship Risso asks "Where do we go next? Where are we bound, beyond what binds us to each other?" and the set design concretizes this question.

Givenchy

In a facility a 45-minute drive from downtown Paris Matthew M. Williams reclaimed his roots as a former creative director for the music industry by showcasing his take on evening wear at easy-wear. The runway extended into a stadium-like setting, bathed in light from four surrounding LED lamps that looked like those used on soccer fields to illuminate the tricks of professional dribblers. "It's a language of light that we built for the show," Williams said. "For me, it's about coming to an arena; that's the all-encompassing mood." 

Palm Angels

Huge palm trees suspended upside down from the ceiling and David Sims' giant photographs of the latest ad campaigns displayed in the lobby make the Palm Angels lifestyle a true mood. The collection needs no introduction according to designer Francesco Ragazzi, who sees in letting the garments speak for themselves the 360° universe of Palm Angels in which fragrances, furniture, music and even set design coexist, representing today's concept of what the new luxury means. 

Coperni

Coperni's runway featured Gigi and Bella Hadid walking through a space surrounded by a block of gray high school lockers like those at East Highland High School in Euphoria, exemplifying the environment in which the chrysalis of adolescence of young, undefined figures breaks apart making them their own. The noise of a disturbed radio transmission enveloped the show dedicated to the seamstresses of Kyiv, whose first look greeted the audience was a yellow fur coat worn over a light blue vinyl catsuit. 

Prada

Already with the January Men's Fashion Week the set design of the collection curated by Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada had astonished both the audience and the distant spectators: taking the theater and the cinema as mirrors of reality, the Prada Men's and Women's FW22 shows were held in the same location, the Prada Foundation Depot, which is re-imagined by oma.eu as a stage for action, a representation of high actuality where the actors break the fourth wall of perception between audience and professional role. Olive green theater chairs are organized according to an orthogonal grid, leaving a zig-zag space in the middle for the models to walk. Theatrical spotlights follow the models emphasizing the eerie relationship between the theatrical and technological atmosphere.

Acne

Acne reinterprets the levels of fashion shows by creating an elevated runway in optical white where models walk with creations inspired by the beauty of repair, while selected spectators are seated inside 4 semi-niches positioned lower than the runway, changing the point of view and perception of the show, which is seen from the bottom up allowing details such as footwear and undefined hems of the garments to be protagonists.