SEVEN CRASH, Sofia's First Article

Hi, Sofia here! I am technically classified as a “friend” of Perime, which I really like because I have absolutely no pressure on me to create great articles and I am literally just chillin at all the meetings, but I was then surprised when I was tasked with going to one of the ten shows that Perime got into for NYFW, because again, I deadass don’t even write articles. I have just been there chillin since the first meeting sooo good. So, being the really nice and thoughtful friend that I am, I just had to help Perime out with this super big favor that I totally didn’t want to actually do at all. That’s a fat lie and when I found out that I was going to a show, any show, I almost died of happiness. The show that I got to attend was Seven Crash’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, titled “Evolution.” I knew next to nothing about this brand because very little is written about it online. Most publications seem to classify this brand using similar phrases: New York-based fashion house sounded by Jason Yao in 2003, known for a fusion of eco-friendly tech and workwear with influences of Chinese culture. That’s all I knew about them, along with the glaring fact that the brand had only 300 followers, leading me to believe that this would be a tiny, tiny show.

I stood in line next to a professional-looking FIT girl who had a tooth gem (pretty tooth) and was very nice to look at. We stood in various lines as the (very very nice and funny!) staff corralled us from room to room to elevator to elevator to runway to runway, until finally we were ushered into the grand chamber where the show would be held. There was a traditional walkway with a divider running down the center made up of dying crops and unruly branches standing vertically surrounded by charred wooden boxes, palettes, and industrial chains, sitting on top of massive cement blocks. The set reminded me of an abandoned, overgrown factory -- a functional place that had been forgotten about after it was no longer necessary.

The set now resides in the background of at least fifty middle-aged womens’’ Instagram pictures who introduced themselves to me and each other as “influencers.” The show was absolutely stacked with this particular type of person, and I was intrigued. I wanted to find out why and how they got here, sitting in the front row for a super small brand (but alas I never did). Other people that I talked to at the show, mostly beautiful kids which were the other majority group in the crowd, said that they got in because they literally just stood outside the door for a long enough time. What?!? You can just do that?! Uhh, yeah, that’s how I’m here dummy.

As more people kept filing in, it seemed like at least a couple of hundred people were milling about, taking fit pics on the runway with this apocalyptic-esque set that was almost dazzling under the bright white lights. We were finally told to clear the runway and head to our seats, anticipating what was about to come. The lights dimmed and as we got quiet -- a low, bellowing note echoed from the speakers. Right as an electric beat dropped vibrating the room, the show began.

You could audibly and visually see the excitement pulsating throughout the room with the reveal of the first look, and it was almost funny to see the reactions as the second, third, and fourth looks stomped out. It was as if everyone in the audience was expecting shit from this 300-follower strong brand, but we all continued to be awestruck, our jaws hitting the floor having to be picked up between each new look.

This show had lots of what I associate with apocalyptic dress. In other words, clothes that represent what we assume we will need in the event of the apocalypse. This style is defined by huge freaking jackets with eighty million pockets, size 100 boots, and anything and everything slapped on the face to protect pretty faces from the elements, of course.

Some models even had their hair braided in skinny cornrows, beginning from one point on the back of their head and coming together in the front to create a cage covering their nose and mouth. Huge puffer jackets, cropped and not, made their way down. The arms of a jacket with silver foil-looking fabric was bunched like bubble ponytails, cinched tightly every five inches or so.

I like to imagine the apocalypse with the Seven Crash heads walking around protected and fitted as fuck in their outerwear with pockets to hold not only their phones, portable chargers, and wallets, but also every single kind of gum from the convenient store that they looted in the panic. They wouldn’t be panicked at all though. They would walk with the same fuck-you-pay-me-but-also-i’m-indifferent-because-i’m-honestly-set attitude that these pretty ass models did down the runway.

My favorite look had to be the icy blonde anarchy queen who looked professional with a black leather tab-collared jacket under a black blazer, which was then layered under another jacket. The outermost jacket displayed lightly cinched arm details and what looked like shiny blue and silver thread jumping out, clearly filled with poison to kill all zombies as soon as they touch it. Baby looked ready to jump a group of zombie killers or climate change fighters. This look elaborated on the story through bold pops of grass green on the gloves and with the sleek and slimming turtleneck peeking through the weight of the heavy jackets. The tiny pops of color remind us that the apocalyptic queen is not just here to kill. She is here to look really good while she does it lol ayyyyy. Burnt oranges, 90’s mom jean denim blues (you know the one), and kind yellows came together with various gray shades (yes I said gray, not grey, stupid) to finish off the collection.

Shows like this remind me that history repeats itself. Much like the era of the “New Look” pioneered by Christian Dior coming straight out of World War II, the present is a time of excess, excess, excess. The choice to use an abundance of fabric reflects the affluence that the Allies embodied after winning the war, and I wonder what exactly helped to prompt this major trend, specifically the circling back to ‘abundance aesthetics’ in fashion. When combined with apocalypse trends and climate change fears, Seven Crash’s show tastefully displayed themes of opulence and protection. We have so much fabric to go around, so much to use up. We just have so much stuff -- we need some way to mark that into the world’s memory and Seven Crash did a great job of adding to that history.