In a season where designers are packing their bags and leaving New York, one has to admire Philipp Plein’s commitment to the Fashion Week spectacle. The designer turned the Brooklyn Navy Yard into ski slopes for his Fall 2018 collection and pulled out all the stops with his UFO set, Migos performance, and an array of the hottest models of the moment. If beauties like Alton Mason, Hannah Ferguson, Luna Bijl, and Halima Aden somehow weren’t enough, Plein had another wild card up his sleeve. He surprised the audience with a special walk by supermodel Irina Shayk—who emerged from a spaceship no less—and an oversize bot covered in Plein’s logo, thereby raising the bar for an over-the-top presentation.
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By kick-starting the show with the off-kilter moment, Plein provided the week’s most Instagram-worthy shots thus far while taking fashion’s love affair with tech to its logical end point. While it’s unlikely that flesh-and-blood models will ever be replaced by robots, Plein’s cheeky opener highlighted how technology (or the illusion of it) serves as a complement to style. After Teyana Taylor’s epic runway walk, staging a full-scale carnival complete with rides, and bringing Jeremy Meeks into high fashion, it’s clear that Plein aims to top himself each season. The sight of Shayk arm in arm with the NYFW equivalent of Optimus Prime will be hard to beat, but we’re sure he’ll come up with something.