Fashion week is, of course, about the clothes. But hardly any designer can leave it at just that. Each has a vision in mind of exactly how he or she wants the world to see a collection, influenced, in large part, by what inspired its creation. In order to realize their own worlds each season, designers choose hair and makeup styles, music, lighting . . . and sets. The sets that frame, or in some cases reflect, the latest offerings show the clothes completely true to their designers’ visions, before being reinterpreted by magazine editors, bloggers, and consumers. Sometimes they’re surreal (see Marc Jacobs’s fall 2012 backdrop by Rachel Feinstein). Often, as in the case of Chanel’s, they can be otherworldly. And many times, they’re just gorgeous, like the thousands of flowers delicately arrayed across the walls at Raf Simon’s Dior debut—there only to enhance the utter beauty of a couture dress. Here, AD selects the most creatively designed sets of the past few seasons.
Click here to view a slide show of these provocative and transporting catwalks.
