Leading UK fashion lighting designer Nick Gray of creative practice Renegade once again brought his own style and flair to the 2014 London Collections Men (LCM) AW14 event which has become the highest profile platform for top brands in menswear – from the classically chic to the dangerously different – who flock to London for the biannual event.
This time Gray decided to also take a different approach in lighting the main showspace in the atmospheric Victoria House venue in central London, using 34 of Panalux’s Flobank units along the runway, supplemented with ETC Source Four profiles for the front array.
Gray conducted several tests to find the precise quality of light he wanted ahead of the event and says, “I wanted a really sumptuous full-bodied blanket of soft light, which also had to be shadow-free along the runway, so videographers and photographers could get the best results. The Flobanks provided the perfect solution,” he states.
Lighting for the show was run at daylight colour temperature.
Flobank unit is a custom unit developed by Panalux comprising eight individually DMX controllable / dimmable 4ft long fluorescent tubes in one unit, with two focusable modules.
The catwalk utilized two areas of the floor used for the event, both with low headroom at different heights. The lack of height was one of the challenges that led to Gray choosing the Flobanks.
An L-shaped triangular truss hung apex-down with a scaff bar running along the bottom provided lighting positions in the main area of runway. The overhead trussing was installed in the celling by the Renegade crew, hung on flying points that had been chemically fixed into the ceiling for previous shows they have done in the venue.
The Flobanks were modified for the project and had their trunion arms removed and replaced with two half-couplers for a neat, low profile connection to the scaff bar, and they could be angled and braced back against the angled sides and cross-members of the trussing.
In the second area, the Flobanks were rigged left and right of the runway on stands as there was insufficient height to hang in the celling. They were augmented with 22 profiles on the front array at the end, above the media platform.
Using the fluorescents also meant they could make a power saving and have a more energy efficient show. “They are also extremely quick and easy to rig,” he adds, and as time is always tight on these events, that is a bonus.
The lighting was operated for the shows by Dan Hill and Renegade’s Crew Chief was Chris Fyfe.
Everyone was happy, the press captured excellent images and Gray confirms he will definitely use the Flobank system and methodology again to create the right lighting and ambience.
All lighting equipment was co-ordinated and supplied by Renegade. Gray also lit the backstage areas plus several exhibition spaces as well as the showspace.
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