Lauren stages 4-D hologram show for Fashion Week
NEW YORK (AP) — If you came out for Ralph Lauren's spring 2015 fashion show to get a close-up of the designer's new Polo brand for women, you might have been disappointed. The clothes quickly disappeared in the mist.
The show Lauren presented on Monday night, on a 4-D runway in Central Park, made already willowy models four stories tall, projected them onto an enlarging water screen, measuring 60 feet tall and 150 feet wide. Then the catwalk began along different fast-changing iconic New York landscapes, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the High Line.
Ralph Lauren, who was at the event in real life, showed up as a water hologram too. He did a dance, or at least his mirage did, drawing laughter from the audience of several hundred.
The 10-minute water show, which drew an eclectic crowd including Kendall Jenner, world-renowned polo player Nacho Figueras and Korean pop stars Girls' Generation-TTS, comes as Ralph Lauren's iconic Polo brand is expanding into women's wear for the first time this year after catering to men for nearly 50 years. This latest incarnation, which offers a downtown urban sensibility compared to its more classic image, began selling on the company's website a few weeks ago and its fall offerings are being shipped to stores like Bloomingdale's.
During an interview at the show, Lauren, dressed in a black Polo shirt with the iconic pony icon and yellow pants, said the company has always tried to be on the front line of innovation. Ralph Lauren was one of the first major fashion brands to sell on the Internet, he said. And in 2010, it staged a 4-D light show to unveil its women's store in Manhattan's Madison Avenue.
"We've always tried to be on the cutting edge of technology," said David Lauren, an executive vice president of his father's company. Lauren spearheaded the hologram show and a recently introduced high-performance, athletic wear shirt. "This is something new and something we discovered."
While it was hard to see the details of the clothes, the urban chic vibe was clear. There were ripped jeans, a lineup of neon-colored dresses and bikinis.