Last night VFiles opened New York Fashion Week with an explosive show, featuring a crop of the fashion industry’s freshest talents showcasing their SS16 collections. Underground fashion gang Moses Gauntlett Cheng was joined by a trio London grads: David Ferreira (who has just graduated from Westminster), Kozaburo (from CSM), Feng Chen Wang and Namilia (both from the RCA).

The Waffle Dance Crew, also known as the NYC subway dancers, opened the show and, if that didn’t make it explosive enough, 21-year-old Korean rapper and rising trap star Keith Ape closed it with a live performance of “It G Ma”. “New York City is a place of energy, its fashion needs to represent that,” said VFiles’ founder Julie Anne Quay.

For their section of the show Moses Gauntlett Cheng enlisted a gang of New York’s underground It-kids. This gender fluid cast modelled an array of deconstructed garments – sheer, slashed and spliced open at the shoulders and at the chest.

However it was a family affair too: Esther Gauntlett’s mother and her boyfriend’s sister graced the catwalk (to the sound of Andrei Bocelli’s dulcet tones). “Family is everything!” said Gauntlett backstage. “And it’s people like that is where we get our inspiration from and their emotions and feelings come out in the clothes.” The show was closed by androgynous model Richie Shazam Khan wearing a flowing cape and fundoshi-like underwear. 

VFiles’ SS16 line-up was chosen by a selection committee that, alongside Quay, included Calvin Klein’s creative director Italo Zucchelli, Off-White designer Virgil Abloh and stylist Mel Ottenberg, who styled Rihanna’s “BBHMM” music video.

Moses Gauntlett Cheng designers David Moses, Esther Gauntlett, and Jenny Cheng backstage at the show.

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