As fashion week moves to London, a look back at one of the most surprising New York Fashion Week events, the Kith show.
New York fashion week featured hundreds of shows from an international roster of labels. But only one show allowed American Express Platinum Card Members to have a sneak peek. Kith, founded by Ronnie Feig, showed at the 9 p.m. time slot on Friday. But, given that he’s a member of the Platinum Collective—a group of talented designers, business people, and influencers—Feig hooked up a group of card members to come and watch a rehearsal at the Brooklyn Navy Yards space. This being Kith—the streetwear label founded in 2010 that has, basically, elevated both the streetwear collab and sneaker drop culture to an art form—phones weren’t just asked to be put away. His team put them away for you, into locked containers.
He wanted to keep his collection, shown at NYFW for the past three years, under wraps, even asking the audience to not even talk about what they saw. What they did see, as the seating rolled across from stage to stage: the unveiling of not one, not two, but four different collaborations. There was his own label, shown on the runway alongside collabs with Eastpak bags and Ugg shoes. Then a scene with KITH and Tommy Hilfiger collaboration, followed by a mise en scene with Greg Lauren. Finally, as the bleachers the audience sat on slid further across the warehouse, we reached the gates of an Italian villa. And there was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, and one of the biggest of fashion week: KITH x Versace. It was the essences of collab culture: Something for Feig’s KITH brand (fashion establishment credibility) and something for Versace: an opportunity to hang with the some of the coolest kids on the block.
