twitter #fashionflock at NYFW
Hello! This is me, Inslee, artfully holding a paintbrush between my teeth while this inked up photographer takes my picture in the tropical jungle that was last Wednesday night at Twitter & IMG's New York Fashion Week party.
The party took place at Gallow Green, a lushly overgrown rooftop garden in Chelsea on top of the chicly creepy McKittrick Hotel. There were vines creeping everywhere. The vibe at Gallow Green strikes somewhere between shipwreck, overgrown ancient city ruins, haunted house and hip brunch scene. It's a mood, let me tell you.
There was an extravagant 90% humidity in the air that night and an spite of this tropical climate, there was also an abundance of very heartily-maintianed beards, bespoke highwaisted suit wearing and quite a lot of very jaunty wide brim hats. So basically, it was as much a fashion party as it was an expedition into the jungles of orient circa the 1800s. And in this metaphor, I am the rare and unusual species that the expedition has set out to study.
Here are some of Twitter's "fashionflock" as sketched by me during the event... I preface this with, this is only a small cross section that I am sharing with you. There were many many more flock members sketched! I was averaging two minutes per sketch for a solid three hours - my personal all time fastest serve (sorry, still in US Open mode).
Painting that fast with no downtime between each sketch is like (and I am just guessing because this has never happened to me) running really fast to a great song and feeling like Heck! I could do this forever! You're just in the zone and every fiber of your being is firing on all cylinders. The humidity was flowing, the reggae undertones of "Cheerleader" were pumping through the night air and I painting to the beat. As soon as I put the finishing flourish on one piece the paper would be zipped out from under me and replaced with another and the instructions to begin again... fifty more times... it was a runner's high. (Again, let me be clear, I will never know what a "runner's high" feels like. I do know what "runner's exhaustion" feels like however)
Anyway, preface concluded. Feast your eyes upon the flock....
You'll notice that there are some MEN in there. Something happened that night, my heart grew two sizes, and I discovered that I actually like drawing men. Maybe it's just because menswear is so evolved these days. There are so many layers to peel back - how do you choose the shoes? Brogues are fantastic! How does one choose between a nice clay-red sole offsetting white leather, or a mustard yellow sole offsetting a rich buttery brown leather? Is it a decision based on whether or not you're wearing a skinny tie or a knit skinny tie? I suddenly want to know all about men's fashion. The man buns! The facial hair! It is the dawn of a new era, my friends.