Interview: Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture and En Noir Creative Director Jason Wolter Discuss Their Stage Collaboration for New York Fashion Week

Snarkitecture and En Noir come together again for an experiential fashion show.

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Complex Original

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Last night En Noir put on their Fall/Winter 2014 runway show called "Tunnel Vision" at the Park Avenue Armory. The entrance to the show was draped in a cavern of black fabric, molded into sharp wrinkles so it looked like the interior of a rocky tunnel. As attendees drew closer to their seats, the size of the tunnel expanded to a gaping mouth that opened onto the runway.

This immersive stage design was the collaborative effort of En Noir's creative director Jason Wolter and the artist duo Snarkitecture made up of Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen. The two creative powers have a history of working together. "They're freaking amazing," Wolter said of Snarkitecture before the show. "They can take a vision that we bring to them or something that I have in my head, and they can build it into something like this." Last year, Snarkitecture fabricated a volcanic mountain for En Noir's "Coal Wasteland" presentation at Milk Studios, a show that encompassed Wolter's concept of "fashion theater."

Daniel Arsham talked to us about creating the giant tunnel for this year's show:

Part of the thing that we look at and Jason and Rob [Garcia] are very interested in is creating, not just a runway show that people are used to seeing, but something very experiential. So the audience actually walks through this entire experience before they witness the show. 

Image via Daily Mail / Construction on the 2nd Ave. subway.

While Snarkitecture focused on the material details of the theme, Wolter explained the philosophical concept behind "Tunnel Vision":

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When the show began, the models emerged from one end of the tunnel, surrounded by fog and back-lit by a white spotlight, like dark and beautiful creatures from the deep.

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