Spring 2018 Ready-to-Wear Opening Ceremony

CEBU, Philippines — Lately in Disneyland’s Toon Town, some fashion history was made. Yes, the Opening Ceremony runway show might have been the second-ever fashion show in Disneyland, but the sweet mother-daughter event that preceded it over 40 years ago was surely nothing like what went down on Main Street  that day. Models clomped down the catwalk in Opening Ceremony Buffalo platforms, a marching band grooved with LED drumsticks, Mickey Mouse himself came out mid-show, vogueing alongside Minnie, both of whom wore custom Opening Ceremony outfits. By the confetti-filled finale, it was impossible to stifle a smile.

Opening Ceremony is, of course, very accustomed to wowing people. Five years ago, its first fashion show featured models escorted down the catwalk by luxury sports cars. In the time since, OC’s fashion events have ranged from the traditional runway format to increasingly abstract stagings, like a play or a political pageant or a professional ballet, all which could lead you to ask: “What’s the point of these Opening Ceremony spectacles?”

Rather than tout Opening Ceremony’s new wares, the purpose of an OC performance is to make a viewer consider fashion beyond the traditional “see-it, want-it, wear-it” transformation narrative. OC has the luxury of being able to put its clothing second to its message because of its enormous retail operation. In its global stores and online, it collects data about what’s selling, data that informs its ready-to-wear collections and allows every season to be almost exactly on-trend. The Spring offering hit many of fashion’s biggest notes right now: crafty knitwear, sport-inspired graphics, utilitarian jackets, cargo pants, and one big, patched parka in mustard yellow. Because the clothes are always so on-the-nose, they can almost play a supporting role to whatever else is going on.

That worked well last season when the tenderness of Mia Wasikowska and Lakeith Stanfield’s dance performance was so well complemented by a collection of collegiate tartans and sweet, womanly dresses, and it worked again at Disneyland. Something about the models’ tied-up anoraks, crochet bucket hats, and glitter Birkenstocks – another new collaboration – worn with wooly socks made each look like a lost tourist who had wandered off Main Street and become the star in her or his own fashion show. Watching them circle Toon Town’s central fountain, some with their hair piled into Minnie-esque buns, it was easy to remember the sheer childlike joy of being a superfan, of loving something so much that you put on your best fanny pack and wait in line for an hour or more. That sense of unbridled joy is rare in “times like these.”

By the end of the show, models had done a quick change to reappear in OC’s Disney collaboration pieces. Prairie dresses, faux-fur coats, and carpenter pants were all printed with Mickey’s likeness to celebrate his 90th birthday. It was, like the main collection, a distillation of trends including offset silkscreens and patched-together knits, topped off with a soupçon of exuberant glee. The ability to transcend cynicism and make viewers feel joy through fashion is Opening Ceremony’s special gift. Whether you’re going to buy a Mickey knit or not, you can’t deny the magic that happened in the Magic Kingdom last night.