http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-hood-by-air-altuzarra.html 2016-09-12 16:05:11 At Hood by Air and Prabal Gurung, Words Are the New Black What’s daring these days in fashion? Hint: It’s not sex. It’s politics — the mere appearance of. === When it comes to fashion, what’s shocking now? Or even (let’s lower the bar a bit) discomfiting, challenging, daring? After a summer when the Hint: It’s not sex. It’s politics — the mere appearance of. (Appearance in every sense of the word.) This season, words are the new black. When Aside from some double-face footwear, so shoes pointed in two directions at once, the collection was full of clothes you could actually wear: little pleated schoolgirl skirts and piqué polo shirts, double-waisted trousers with a gold zipper running up one leg. Oversize white shirting was suspended from spaghetti straps, arms left to dangle like ruffles at the side; a gray jumpsuit with twin rivers of zippers running from lapels to ankles were positively elegant; and a duffle bag on a leash was almost, well, cute. Underground provocateur is, it turns out, a hard role to maintain, at least if you want to run a business, especially when the establishment keeps trying to embrace you. More unexpected was the other statement-making going on. Prabal Gurung Besides, there was more language in the mix at A lace sweatshirt came appliquéd with “Greed” in capital letters, a white T-shirt noted “Come Shake the Money Tree” over the left breast, and a buttoned-up striped banker’s shirt was finished in white, the better to display a black-and-white photograph of Mr. Madoff at the waist. The result could easily have tipped into accusation or juvenile pouting, but instead it was about remembrance, and the more effective for it: a well-judged nod to the truth that we carry our mistakes with us, and that if we don’t acknowledge history, we are doomed to repeat it. Still, not all activism is so overt. Sometimes, it can be as simple as an unfettered blast of optimism, as it was at The combination shouldn’t have worked, but it did (and often extremely well), suggesting that the most unexpected cross-pollinations can create the most striking results. Understanding via seduction. It’s kind of a jaw-dropping idea.