As one of the most eagerly-anticipated appointments on the international fashion calendar, Shayne Oliver’s Hood By Air presentations have become known for their radical visions of fashion and beauty, their diverse casts of Oliver’s friends and muses, and their atmospheric soundtracks, made in collaboration with the London-based Venezuelan producer Arca. So, when commissioned to create the first ever menswear windows of the iconic Barneys department store on Madison Avenue, HBA was unlikely to merely style its clothes on shop mannequins and be done with it. Oliver was always going to create a spectacle, but no-one could have predicted the elaborate, six-month-long project he was to embark on with the Barneys team — a mind-blowingly creative mission to make some of the most inventive and original window displays we’ve ever seen.
In a recreation of the HBA spring/summer 16 ‘Galvanize’ runway show outside the Philharmonie de Paris in June 2015, the windows feature life-size mannequins that are hyperrealistic likenesses of six models who walked in the show: Roman, Brandon, Golo, Hirakish, and the tattoo-covered Chucky and Sunny. Each model had their face and body cast. Skin tones and tattoos were painstakingly recreated by Yuji Yoshimoto’s Studio UG — the studio that also created the lifelike mannequins of Yayoi Kusama in windows for her collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Each model was styled in their full catwalk look, including the memorable mouthpieces made by Dolly Cohen.
i-D exclusively reveals a behind the scenes video of Hirakish emerging from his mold-making session at Studio UG, above, as well as the soundscape for the window display that was created by
Wench
— the collaborative music project of Oliver and Alejandro Ghersi (Arca). Even if you can’t make it to New York, you can recreate the windows from the comfort of your digital screen.
Accompanied by the thoughts of HBA head honcho Shayne Oliver himself:
How did the idea for the windows come about?
Dennis [Freedman, Barneys Creative Director] actually approached us about the idea. He loved the spring/summer 16 show at the Philharmonie in Paris and wanted to capture that moment and bring it to NY.
What was the experience of seeing the mold casting process like?
The mold casting was really incredible. It was so precise and detailed. I’ve never seen anything like it.
How does it feel to see the collection and the models presented this way to the streets of New York?
I liked that the collection had time to breathe. The show happened, and then giving people time to digest the collection is great — almost to let people forget about it and bring it back to them with a certain comfort level. The Barneys window is so New York, and HBA is a brand born in NY, so that’s really cool.
Will we get to hear more from music from Wench soon?
Yes.
Credits
Text Charlotte Gush
Photography and film Rick Barroso courtesy Barneys New York