Behind the Scenes at the Tanner Fletcher SS25 Presentation “The Artist’s Dilemma”
The full cast celebrating a successful show! Full slideshow at the end.
To celebrate the launch of our SS25 collection, I thought I’d bring you back to September 2024 to our SS25 presentation“The Artist’s Dilemma”. The “Artist’s Dilemma” was inspired by having too many creative ideas without the ability to do them all. As designers and business owners, Tanner and I are always thinking of new ideas and it pains us when we have to limit ourselves or when we’re limited by forces out of our control. The pieces inspired by this concept are the Artist’s Dilemma Shirt and the Artist’s Dilemma Gown.
Dee in the Artist’s Dilemma Gown. Full slideshow at the end.
The setting was a spacious Chelsea art gallery with white walls, white floors and white ceilings. A blank canvas! We wanted to create living works of art. Each model was staged with a distinct character identity and a repetitive “loop”. An activity of sorts they’d be doing the entire show. Each scene was supposed to portray an artist’s dilemma. One model was the tortured poet, constantly starting a new page on the typewriter but becoming uninspired, he was prompted to crumple up his half completed work and throw it in the trash.
Another model was in charge of the music. We took our 1973 record player form the studio and some of our favorite vinyls to set the mood. Her dilemma was that she was unable to decide which music she should play. She would put on The Judds for a while but mid song, she wasn’t sure that was the right choice so she abruptly cut the music and switched to classical ballet tunes and so on.
Carly playing the DJ. Full slideshow at the end.
More scenes included Victorian women polishing silver that wouldn’t come clean, a photographer who couldn’t get the right shot, a teacher who was undecided about his lesson plan and a bride who wasn’t sure she was making the right choice…he loves me, he loves me not.
Guests navigated the gallery with refreshments in hand, almost like a maze, something unexpected at every turn. A featured vignette was Dylan Mulvaney posing as an artist’s muse while her white dress was being painted with black oil paint.
This was me and Tanner’s favorite show we’ve done to date. The feeling surrounding us is indescribable. The amount of support is moving to say the least.
Casting the show is our favorite part and this season we were lucky enough to have so many interesting characters. Christy flew in from Dallas, Diana from Paris, Jiwoo from Seoul, Gift from Maryland, Hannah from Salt Lake City and Dylan from LA. Not to mention the countless hair and makeup artists that came from all over the world.
An immense privilege we are both lucky to have is our family’s help. Each season, a crew of midwesterners fly in from Minnesota and Wisconsin to get to work on whatever crazy plans Tanner and I have come up with. Siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and lifelong friends come together as our production crew. From our dads traveling to Stuy town to pickup a 1970’s exercise bike we found on Facebook marketplace to our moms running the model check in table and making floral arrangements to grandparent’s going to the Upper East Side to get catering to having to hunt down an elusive storage unit in the Brooklyn Navy Yards where our refreshments were being stored, there is a lot that goes into one event. Tanner’s dad had to have taken at least 20 trips back and forth from the studio to the venue because he wanted to sit with the models as they were being transported. Not to mention the 5 Ubers we had to take there and back with props and necessities. It truly takes a village and we are so thankful for ours.
Me and my dad, Mike. He came over to me and said “Here take a sip of this”. Always looking out for me! Full slideshow at the end.
Our family is also great at working the room. They don’t know who’s who so they use their mid western charm to talk us up to everyone they see. You wouldn’t believe the recap discussions we have afterwards! Things like, “Who talked to which celebrity? Did you know there was an NBA player there? I overheard someone saying the best things about you! Which models were late? How many cocktails did you have? When is the Vogue review coming out?” (we read it as a group). So many memories and laughs we will never forget.
Cheers to another great show and to an even better one the next time around!
xoxo,
Fletcher
Treat yourselves to a full slideshow by Sara Bouwman below.
