Calvin Klein's Fall 2018 show. All images courtesy of Bureau Betak's Instagram

Betak and Sterling Ruby's spooky show for NY Fashion Week

With popcorn and blood-red pompoms the artist and the show producer presented Calvin Klein's vision of America

Invitations to the twice yearly fashion shows are usually of an elaborate nature and often end up on ebay within minutes of the show ending. This week's Calvin Klein Fall 2018 runway show in New York came in the form of a bag of popcorn wrapped in a silver envelope. However, the show didn't offer a happy Hollywood ending but instead something closer to a scary movie style experience.

From a series of spooky barns installed inside the US Stock Exchange Building, Sterling Ruby's crimson pompoms "hung like dripping blood" according to Vogue's Suzy Menkes. 

 

Calvin Klein's Fall 2018 show
Calvin Klein's Fall 2018 show

Meanwhile, on the floor, fashion show producer Alexandre de Betak had placed masses of white popcorn, to simulate snow for this wintry collection of balaclavas and hi-vis jackets.

Calvin Klein's long-term licensing deal with the Warhol Foundation also enabled the fashion brand to include some high-brow pop-art gore, courtesy of a blood-red print of one of Warhol's car crash images, from Andy's Death and Disaster series. 

 

Calvin Klein's Fall 2018 show
Calvin Klein's Fall 2018 show

Calvin Klein's creative director Raf Simons said the collection was inspired by American heroes more generally, from firefighters through to NASA astronauts. To find out more about the creators of this breathtaking show, order a copy of Sterling Ruby's book here; and a copy of Alexandre de Betak's book here. And for more on Andy Warhol go here.