Dyne brings intelligent design to NYFW

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Feb 6, 2019

The New York Fashion Week: Men's presentation from the fit-meets-function menswear label on February 5 took place on the ground floor of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Replacing models and a runway, Dyne opted for 12 mannequins and as the room's centerpiece: a massive pile of vintage electronics.

At first glance, the mountain of wires, keyboards, televisions and computer monitors might have looked like junk. But, in the context of Dyne's creative director Chris Bevans, each is a useful piece waiting to be repurposed for an innovative and modern use. 

As the child of an engineer at Eastman Kodak, technology is where Dyne's Bevans began his award-winning fashion journey, spending the early years surrounded by the kind of tech miscellany that today graced the Dyne installation at his alma mater, the FIT.

Marking the second day of the nine-day season in New York, Bevans' fall collection stood as a lesson in considered sourcing.

"I only use fabric that’s available on the marketplace," Bevans told FashionNetwork.com. "So much is already out in the world, you just have to know where to go and be able to spend some time with your sourcing strategy."

Currently, Dyne sources globally from mills in Taipei, Switzerland and beyond, "wherever mills have a lot of fabric that they’re sitting on that they want to get rid of," Bevans said.

This fall, the result was a collection of futuristic athleisure complete with coin-sized near field chips embedded into each piece. The wearable tech, previously seen in other pieces from the label, provided shoppers with instant information on the garment – its properties, where it was made, the season, the look book, and a route to purchase through Dyne's Shopify – all sent to the user's smartphone. 

The presentation's long vests, quilted jackets, cozy hoodies, sleek jumpsuits and cropped pants ranged in color from highlighter and moss green to icy blue, grey and brown. Each mannequin sported an intriguing, respirator-like mask fashioned by Bevans the night before, using only a hot glue-gun and old tech components.

Further touch points were seen in the digital displays of Dyne's newest fall pieces, with screens showing rotating models dressed in the looks and a projector displaying a Dyne fashion film, shot in Oregon and featuring the sporty ensembles amid shots of vast forests and flowing water.

Tying the spectacle together was the underlying theme of technology, and its evolution and marriage to the natural world, including its human inhabitants. 

"Clothes should be made to last," Bevans explained. "Fast fashion is what’s killing us. Your style should be intuitive to your surroundings and your environment and make you feel like you’re clad in positivity and light. We want to instil confidence and make people feel good about themselves."

Currently, Dyne's sustainable tech fashion is available through the label's e-commerce platform, as well as in retailers like Bloomingdales, Barneys, Lane Crawford and Takashimaya.

The Dyne installation, located inside FIT's ground-floor space at the intersection of 27th Street and 7th Avenue, will remain open to the public through February 7.