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Every element of a fashion show, down to the smallest detail, is chosen to represent a vision. And when it comes time for the world to experience a collection, the music played can be as important as the venue selected, or the elaborate sets. This season designers have chosen everything from vintage pop hits to layered electronic mixes to serve as the soundtrack for their shows, and some of the most interesting tunes heard on the runway right now come directly from the big screen. At Valentino this afternoon, Pierpaolo Piccioli had songs from two of the year’s best pictures, starting things with Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka’s evocative theme for Lion and concluding with Nicholas Britell’s classical compositions for Moonlight. Piccoli offered the cinéastes in his audience a treat and underscored the symbolism of his designs by connecting them to stories of self-discovery.
Piccoli is far from the only designer to embrace movie music; during New York Fashion Week Joseph Altuzarra was similarly impacted by Moonlight, using a mix that included Britell’s track “The Middle of The World” and the "End Credits Suite" from the same album. Its chamber-music tones fit well with Altuzarra’s painterly Northern Renaissance reference points, providing the sonic complement to the show that contrasted modernity with Old World influences. Raf Simons’s Bowie-heavy Calvin Klein soundtrack featured multiple songs, but it hammered home the theme of American youth culture by revisiting Air’s seminal soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. Mica Levi’s surrealist reprise for Jackie was a fitting accompaniment to the dreamy wares at Sies Marjan, while Oscar de la Renta’s new era rang in with a remix of Carter Burwell’s finale to Carol, a song celebrating the poignancy of new beginnings.
In each instance, the melodies chosen added another layer of enjoyment and forged a connection between the best in fashion and film. Here, a look back at the shows that utilized movie music to great effect.
