Fashion Week’s Most Inventive Show? Johnny Weir Skates At Elise Overland

When Andre Balaz told us we were drinking "Golden Showers" we knew Elise Øverland's fall '11 presentation would be a bit different. Fast-forward 20 minutes, cue to The Standard Hotel's rink, and add some skating models, and we may have witnessed one of the most inventive shows of New York Fashion Week—not to mention another feather in the cap of the Standard's genius publicity machine. A crowd of onlookers four deep stretched their camera phones as far as they would go to to click snaps of clothes that would be right at home on the most avant-garde pro-skating circuit ever. Futuristic prints mixed with steel blue chubbies, see-through plastic scarves accessorized fur vests, dresses, and sleeves, while puffy, Bjork-like silhouettes dominated. But such unusual pairings are de rigeur for Øverland's hat trick, the Olympic skater Johnny Weir, who busted onto the ice in a flurry of glitter, makeup, reflective gold, and fur, fur, fur. His outfit, Øverland told us, was "a bit of collaboration. We were up late last night sewing and glueing and just putting it all together." On the ice, it really worked—Weir delivered an exhilarating set that was like a Golden Shower straight out of Black Swan.

Photos via Billy Farrell/Billy Farrell Agency