William Rast Fall 2009 – New York Fashion Week

William Rast co-designers and best friends Justin Timberlake (second from left) and Trace Ayala (second from right) after their runway show at Bryant Park. (photo by Bibs Teh / Meniscus Magazine)

While researching the brand a couple of weeks before the show, I came across a rather interesting Craigslist ad titled “William Rast seeking Fashion Week Interns (Greenwich Village),” published prior to New York Fashion Week:

“Seeking fashion week interns to work with our in-house team to help get the collection ready for fashion week show on 2/16.

IMPORTANT – really looking for fashion students who know their way around the NYC garment districts and know fabrics; if you can sew / stitch, even better.

Dates are this Monday 2/9 through Monday 2/16. Need all-day availability and capacity to work late. Great exposure to styling team.”

I couldn’t help but wonder whether Justin Timberlake and Trace Ayala’s (Timberlake’s childhood friend and business partner) new Fall 2009 collection of casual wear line William Rast would be finished and ready by the scheduled show date.

As it turned out, the collection was not only ready, but it also managed to attract a full house of attendees, press and photographers. Front row seats were filled by the likes of Anna Wintour, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch.

Titled “New America”, the collection was inspired by such American classic movies as “Rumble Fish” and “Thelma & Louise,” and was infused with a distinct biker/retro theme with dominant colors of black, gray, and white alongside shades of washed out denim. While this fall collection was a definite step up from the previous Spring 2009 collection (which was saturated by denim with excessive rips and holes), many looks felt over-embellished and over-layered. Denim jackets, shirts and skirts often looked overdone due to exaggerated use of embroidery, studs, fringe, more fringe, and – you guessed it – even more fringe. The strongest elements of the collection included well-tailored men’s suit jackets and less-complicated leather jackets.

William Rast can be found in major department stores as well as online at www.WilliamRast.com, with prices for men’s jeans starting at $169 and $167 for women’s short denim shorts.

Photos: William Rast Fall 2009 – New York Fashion Week
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine