Despite the somber tones that hung over our heads for most of fashion week, there were, thankfully, sporadic moments of instantaneous joy and extraordinariness. None more joyful and extraordinary than the exhibit by fashion and costume designer Christian Joy, "The Visitors Must Be Amused," open at the AVA gallery in New York, running until March 9th. CJ created a gallery full of otherworldly "female beings," from outer-galactic space suits to stealthy black widow second skins. She asked friends and family to write character profiles for her cast of fantastic ladies, and in turn they used the costumes to create an image of their own design — a sort of brief and arty game of telephone. Nick Zinner, for example, describes a shadowy parallel universe that his creature the black ghost inhabits. "Despite being Dead" he writes,"the Black Ghost is in fact a very special ghost, feeding off of laughter and children's joy, so she is almost at odds with her own predicament." Fun-having ghosts and sexy aliens are what fashion week should always be made of.
