During New York Fashion Week, brands aim to transcend the expected—clothes—with spectacle. 

On Tuesday evening, more Instagram photos were taken of Ralph Lauren’s collection of sports cars than of the slinky gowns and trim tailoring displayed at his garage show in Bedford, New York.

Rihanna’s Fenty x Puma show dominated discussions as the week’s highlight, notably due to Kanye West’s surprise absence from presenting his Yeezy collection, for reasons beyond mere fashion.

Last week, Matt Buyten, a twelve-time X Games medalist from Carson City, Nevada, along with three other freestyle motocross riders, arrived in New York for a gig with a two-day rehearsal.

On Sunday evening, Buyten, also known as the B-10 Bomber, concealed himself behind backstage curtains at the Park Avenue Armory until his cue. 

Then, he accelerated up a ramp, executing spins above the audience, occasionally detaching from his bike by several feet of air before landing on a metal mobile landing strip.

“It’s metal to metal,” Buyten said later. “You miss and you die.” The collection, too, was shrouded in the kind of secrecy that attracts attention. 

Backstage, before the show, I asked Rihanna about what seemed to be a dramatic departure in her designs

Her first three fashion collections for Puma ranged from goth hoodies to pink frilly sweaters, but many of her spring, 2018, looks seemed ready for an expedition up a mountain. 

“Where did you see them?” she asked, concerned about a possible leak. I gestured towards a line of models behind her, and she nodded, pursed her lips, and shrugged.

“I get bored easily,” she said, adding, “I wanted to take it back. You have to keep the consumer excited.” 

She wore an olive knit top with corsetry stitching up the arms and acid-green nylon sweatpants tucked into black high-heeled boots that extended to the top of her thighs. 

She cinched a matching green windbreaker around her waist, adding a touch of coordinated flair to her outfit, while also ensuring she was prepared for any change in weather.

Nearby, two long rows of makeup tables were arrayed with the line of cosmetics that Rihanna had launched several days earlier. 

Fenty Beauty, under Rihanna’s full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, features forty foundation shades catering to all complexions, with cases spotted being unloaded into New York’s Sephora shops on Monday.

The makeup artist James Kaliardos, who designed the show’s beauty look, complimented the makeup; unlike at some other shows, he said, his team hadn’t had to secretly use other people’s products. 

He used Rihanna’s foundation, shade No. 280, applying it with a brush, then added a product called Trophy Wife to finish the “butterfly” look, known for its sheen.

He stopped short at doing my eyes. Working with Rihanna, he said, was unusually freeing. “Her life doesn’t have boundaries,” he said. “You hear it in her music.”

The hair stylist Yusef Williams summed up the show’s look as “She’s a badass adventurer.” The models wore helmet heads and sweaty-looking ponytails. 

“Get some shine spray and just start spraying them,” Williams called to his team. “I don’t want any dry hair!” 

Down the hall in the cavernous armory, the audience—which included Whoopi Goldberg and her granddaughter Jerzey

Music-industry colleagues such as A$AP Ferg, Diplo, and Cardi B; and Rihanna’s grandfather Lionel Braithwaite, and mother, Monica Fenty, and tiny niece, Majesty

Took selfies in front of three hundred thousand pounds of sparkling pink sand that was piled in heaps. 

The clothes were an array of anoraks in purple and acid green with swimsuits that would have looked athletic were it not for their corset-stitched leg holes. 

Sneaker heads made note of the new Fenty creepers, which came in hot orange, gray, and white. Naturally, when Rihanna appeared to take her bow, it was on the back of a large motorcycle.

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