4Wall and Proteus on Versace runway in LA
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Scott Ciungan, technical director at KCD Worldwide, the fashion experiences agency that has worked with Versace for a decade, said that the pairing of the brand with the city during Oscars weekend all made sense. “This is a big breakout collection for them and a big moment for the brand. The collection that Donatella put together has roots tied to Hollywood and California, and the set, creative and location were all tailored around those elements.”
FW23 served as a platform for Versace to show their newest Fall-Winter collections and, along with a show in Milan in September, is one of the brand’s most important yearly fashion events.
The runway show was held 100ft in the air on top of a fully transformed parking structure at the Pacific Design Centre in the heart of West Hollywood. A huge scaffolding structure elevated the runway, guest seating and model ramp another 16 feet with lighting towers equipped with 50,000-lumen Proteus Maximus another 60 feet above that in what Scott calls an “impactful and imposing design”.
The structure’s large surface area required uniform coverage of variable white colour temperature light. Scott explains, “When lighting a runway, you need front and back light to illuminate the entire front of the model and the entire back of the model on every run. The top of the cube had 10 individual runways so the placement of the lighting towers, the fixture counts and the angles that the models were walking down were all very strategic.
“The aesthetics of the towers were a huge consideration as well. We used a lot of time going back and forth to keep those as minimal and contemporary looking as possible because they were such an integral part of the set design.”
For this type of runway show, Scott says multiple fixture types are normally required in order to get the necessary look and coverage. “We’d typically have one type of light that illuminates the ‘vogue’ shot, which is the front-facing light that illuminates the model as they walk up the long ramp when the all-important first photographs are being taken. Another type of fixture would cover the ancillary runways in a sharp, shuttered projection, and then the backlight at the base of the model ramp would traditionally be another type of fixture.
“The Proteus Maximus are just so multidisciplinary and there are so many different tool sets in them that we were able to blanket the entire show with one type of fixture. It made it super easy for fixture management on site but most importantly it gave us a more consistent look of the show from start to finish.”
The Proteus Maximus wasn’t the only Elation lighting fixture used on the show. Lining the step & repeat photocall backdrop - a type of red carpet space that guests walked along before taking their seat - was a line of Proteus Rayzor 760 LED moving heads providing rear light with LED panels illuminating from the front. The area is critical as it provided guests, which included celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Cher, and Elton John, their first experience with the space, and was used exclusively for photos and film.
Both the Maximus and Rayzor 760 include a variable refresh rate adjustable up to 25000 Hz for flicker-free operation and trouble-free use with high-speed cameras.
Full-service rental company 4Wall provided the Elation lights for the Versace FW23 event, a company Scott has worked with often. “We work almost exclusively with them on all our major fashion shows and they are a great partner,” he commented. “Cassie Krowe is an integral part of their New York office and has a very solid understanding of fashion.”
