Betak brings blooms, Bieber and a library to NY Fashion Week
The acclaimed show producer works with Jason Wu, Putnam & Putnam and Kate Spade at this season’s NYFW
Alexander de Betak began New York Fashion Week in an unconventional manner, even for a show producer so often referred to as the Fellini of Fashion.
Betak’s show for designer John Elliott’s Spring/Summer 2019 collection aimed to recreate the look and feel of Los Angeles, right in the heart of Manhattan.
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His production company, Bureau Betak, staged the show for this LA label – which draws on the look and feel of LA street style – in the Pier 62 Skatepark on the banks of the Hudson. The runway soundtrack was blasted from a simple set of speaker stacks, and guests– including LeBron James, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin - sat on specially customised milk crates among the skate bowls, to view the presentation of both men’s and women’s wear.
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The setting was quite different for Kate Spade’s show. This exquisitely designed, demure new collection – the first since UK designer Nicola Glass took on the role of creative director – was staged at the New York Public Library, enabling the runway models to show off the new, bright prints, billowing dresses and accessories under the NYPL’s 40-foot-high glass dome ceiling.
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And it wasn’t all model behaviour. Betak also oversaw a still-life installation for Jason Wu at NY Fashion Week, working with the acclaimed New York floral design studio Putnam & Putnam to create a beautiful display for Jason Wu’s new collection.
The display doesn’t feature a single model; instead Wu, Betak and Putnam & Putnam have worked their magic around a series of mannequins, but, as Wu puts it on Instagram, “sometimes a whisper is louder than a shout.”
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To see more of Betak’s high-profile fashion work order a copy of Betak: Fashion Show Revolution; for more from the Putnam & Putnam get their new Flower Colour Guide.