Great fashion, as the legendary designer Christian Dior once observed, requires a happy balance between accents and a base.
So too does great fashion show lighting. LD Daniel Thibault of Alpha Production Group demonstrated this point recently by blending the warm white light of the Ovation E-190WW with the rich colors of the Rogue R2 Wash at Art 2 Wear, an annual fashion show that celebrates the work of North Carolina State Design School students.
Thibault used the CHAUVET Professional fixtures to create complementing and contrasting looks on the fashion show’s runway. “I wanted the warm white light from the Ovations with no color gels, because I felt this gave us the kind of natural look that worked best for most of the fashion designs,” he said. “When I needed something cooler for the harder edged styles, I used the Rogues to overlay light on top of the Ovation light. The two fixtures worked perfectly together. I think that when you light something like this, it’s often good to accent the flat field of your ellipsoidal with another fixture.”
In addition to accenting the light produced by the Ovation E-190WWs in Thibault’s rig, his Rogue R2 Washes were used to create some unique and dramatic effects on their own. “The Rogues were awesome for some special looks,” he recalled. “There was one point in the show when the models came out in white paper dresses. When this happened, I got the Rogues to create a UV type of look and turned off all my Ovations. The look wasn’t actual UV, but it was very suggestive of it with deep blues and red. When that light hit the shiny paper dresses, it was pretty stunning.”
The Rogue R2 Washes were also used to light key elements of the room around the runaway during the event. “I’ve worked fashion shows before and learned how important it is to create a whole look in the room that goes beyond the runway,” said Thibault. “The audience takes in the whole scene with their eyes.”
With this in mind, Thibault also positioned 24 COLORado 2-Quad Zoom Tours throughout the room. “I used the COLORados to uplight walls,” he said. “This set a nice elegant tone as soon as you walked in the room.”
As for the Ovation E-190WW fixtures, Thibault praised their camera friendliness and tight focus. “The warm white light and flat even field that we got from the Ovations were great for videoing and photographing the show,” he said. “We were also very grateful that the Ovations have such a tight zoom. At a fashion show you want to light the runway without blinding the people sitting in the two front rows.”
Thibault had only seven rig points in the room, which made it challenging to fly the 24 Ovation E-190WW fixtures and 12 Rogue R2 Washes unobtrusively. He met this challenge by creating a truss grid over the stage. This grid included three bars that crossed the stage as well as bars that ran parallel to it on either side. All of the Ovation fixtures were flown from this rig, as were most of the Rogues. Additional Rogue units were positioned on risers outside of the audience perimeter.
An event in the fashion education world, Art 2 Wear draws representatives from many of the leading couture houses seeking new young talent. The show is an opportunity for students with big career aspirations to take a step forward in the quest to achieve their goals.
“The students work very hard on this show,” said the LD. “We know how important it is to their future, so we want our lighting to support their work.” Thibault’s Art 2 Wear rig does just that. In the process, it also showcases the talents of a gifted young designer, whose medium happens to be light.
Chauvetlighting.com
