Karolina Kurkova, Carmen Kass, Shalom Harlow <3

I finally made it to my seat to take in the front-of-house spectacle. Wang loves industrial installations on his runways, and this season it was a series of huge mirrored columns. I watched as Bill Cunningham, endearing in a red v-neck sweater of all things, took pictures of the hipper-than-thou crowd (hi, Peter Brant, Jr!) and all the international Vogue editors.

Right before the lights went down a creepy guy wearing a sailor suit and shorts and a tiny little person wearing a gold puffy jacket quilted with dollar signs, were shuffled into the front row. It turns out it was experimental/hip-hop music group Die Antwoord, who are starring in the Alexander Wang T campaign. Bill Cunningham looked thoroughly confused as he was snapping, and I figured out why when I finally saw pics of Yo-landi Visser:

Photo: Getty

How did she even see the show with those eyes? Anyway, the show.

A tribal/techno beat played throughout the show, and it was the musical equivalent of the clothes—slick and strong. I’m going on the record here to say this was one of Wang’s best collections in a while. It was outerwear-heavy, and everything was stiff, waxed, and lacquered, which gave an overall armor-like effect. The palette was the usual black and white, with burgundy mixed in. Accessories were stellar, in particular the knee-high boots and huge overnight bags.

The models weaved in and out between the columns, many of them with their faces half-covered in a turtle neck that made them look like they were wearing surgical masks. After a long finale march, there was a slight pause and then the supers came out, all in the same masks. And people cheered, clapped, and hollered, like it was a Heart Truth show rather than Alexander Wang. It was truly heart-warming. After a similar march, the supers stopped in front of the mirrored columns, and pulled down their masks. Fashion show drama at its best.

Photos: IMAXtree