Blue and pink lights set the stage on the fifth floor ballroom of the Times Square Marriott Marquis Hotel. A vaguely reflective white material covered the T-shaped runway as videos played on the screen behind it.

Vietnamese American designer Khang Le of #TeamKhangle ended the VIP Pageantry New York Fashion Week show with his Dreamer and Louiso collections displayed on a staggering 67 models. VIP Pageantry highlighted a number of up-and-coming designers to showcase their work together. 

Celebrity makeup artist Lisa Opie opened with an enormous pair of white wings and a glittery silver skirt. Chains and body jewelry and her blonde waves served as her top. Opie’s look was completely disconnected from both collections. She was originally meant to do makeup for VIP Pageantry, but was pulled to model.

“Anything I can do to support fellow girlbosses is, you know, something that I support no matter what,” Opie said of the women-led production.

Louiso, Khangle’s new ready-to-wear collection, featured asymmetrical cuts in mostly black and white. Model Eliza Jeffers hula-hooped down the runway in a form-fitting black miniskirt and one-shoulder long sleeve top to transition to the color section of Louiso. Then followed Dreamer, a “creative, fun and colorful” collection featuring blues and pinks in paint splatters and clouds in funky, bold silhouettes. 

The Dreamer collection will now be retired as Louiso takes center stage.

“[The audience] is used to the fact that I do crazy stuff,” Le said, regarding the contrast between the straightforward Louiso and the innovative Dreamer. “So now when I do normal stuff, I want to see what they think.”

It was jarring to see models there for their follower counts. Tiko Texas of Barstool Sports walked with a Dreamer cropped open jacket and a skirt that she bunched up and carried precariously in front of her like a magician about to make a glass of water disappear. Kyle Cochran — who uses the stage name Kyo York — donned a Louiso and a Dreamer look. His first outfit, a white suit jacket, just made him look like an average white guy. York’s claim to fame is that he’s a white man who sings in Vietnamese, so his confidence is unsurprising. As opposed to the other models who had waited hours for their fittings the night before, and one of whom wore the same jacket as York, York did not manage to sell the vision.

Mimi Tao from Project Runway closed out the show in a black-and-white dress and feathered ruff collar like the Evil Queen from Snow White. Her fit aligned more with the Louiso collection before. Tao elevated the entire show — her posture, gaze and presence would have better suited a production that understands the necessity of good lighting in the red carpet area, which was frustratingly lacking. One photographer was relegated to light duty. 

Le himself took the stage in shiny black knee-high platform boots, jewel blue gloves and matching sequins. With Opie on his right and Tao on his left, he marched down the front with his high-collared tunic after the final walk.

Stylist Ayumi Perry, one of Le’s invited VIP guests, loved the diversity of the show and its intense Asian influence evident in subtle details. She pointed to Rick Owens’ Hakama-style pants and the Maison Margiela Tabi shoes as examples of Asian American fashion. 

“I like something that doesn’t scream the culture.” Perry said. “It’s just subtle — maybe in the stitching or the lining that pays homage to our roots.”

Responding to the lack of Asian representation in fashion productions, Le added, “I feel like now is time for me to get a team together, because not just as a designer, I should represent Asian Americans.”

Khangle plans to host its own show in September for the Spring/Summer 2023 run of NYFW.

Contact Alexandra Chan at [email protected].