Tibi Spring '25 Runway Music
The process, the why, the list. Here.
In the wake of our Spring 2025 NYFW runway presentation this past Saturday, I have been inundated, in the best way, with requests for the music from the runway show and from the after party that evening. How did we decide on and source the tracks? How long did the process take and who is involved? Instead of just sending around a playlist of the songs with no explanation, I thought it might be more interesting to also break down what goes into the curation of the set for our runway shows, our creative process, and how it all comes together in the end.
We have been working with Javier Peral for over 20 years now - Javier is an integral member of the Tibi family and brand history, and each season, he brings to life on the runway our creative vision for the musical aspects of the new collection. The creative process for the music selection begins long before our first meeting with Javier, which is usually a couple weeks before the show date. In early June I asked Amy to give me a high-level breakdown of the creative direction for the Spring ‘25 collection so I could formulate a jumping off point for my digging - there is typically a key instrument, voice, or item that acts as a through-line throughout the tracks we ultimately select for the runway set. Similar to the design process, the choice of medium for the sketches tends to be indicative of the mood of the collection, whether that be watercolors, oils, acrylics, pencils, etc… Spring 2025’s focus, taking risks while still grounded, leans most toward modernity - strength, robust graphic shapes, and curious interest. Traci took creative freedom to flex her design muscles throughout the collection, adding some much-craved additional friction to the line, paired with intriguing metal accessories that showed up in the clothing and in jewelry. Amy told me that since modernity and the desire to push oneself is the linchpin here, exploration of what is new in the world of sound will be critical, but that familiarity will then become extra crucial to maintain balance.
So, taking this input, I began to dig. I started by looking for modern sounds from some artists I am already familiar with and that I associate with many of the adjectives used by Amy above. Artists like Moby, Actress, HVOB, Jamie XX, Nicolas Jaar, Depeche Mode, and others. Songs from this crew that jumped out at me at the start were "Go” by Moby, Actress’ “Rainlines”, and HVOB’s ”Azrael” - strong baselines, modern instruments and composition, deep and slightly dark in presentation. My love for Depeche Mode brought me to Yazoo, an English synth-pop duo made up by Alison Moyet and Depeche Mode’s Vince Clarke. Amy had sent me a David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull duet cover of “I Got You Babe” as a reference to the sound she was looking for, and I felt that the simple, yet riveting sounds composed by Clarke, matched with Moyet’s cavernous, but still feminine vocals, conspired perfectly, for our usage, on their track “Ode to Boy”. Of the first four-hour playlist I assembled, “Ode to Boy” was the standout for Amy.
From here I began to explore artists like Against All Logic, Lali Puna, Marie Davidson, and Labyrinth Ear, diving deeper into the electro/synth sounds mixed with uniquely feminine vocals. Towards the end of the curation of the second inspiration playlist, I wanted to include some classic songs - covers and originals that would help to ground the modernity of the collection and contribute some relatability and a tinge of familiarity to the clothing being presented - this ultimately culminated in a cover of Cher’s “Believe” by the absurdly talented Okay Kaya.
This process took about 2 months, at which point I sent Javier the two inspiration playlists, some notes about the chosen tracks, and the favorites out of the two groups, specifically noting that “Ode to Boy” was a centerpiece of my digging process. From here Javier does his own digging and, about 2 weeks out from the show, Amy, Derek, Sarah, and I sat down in the showroom, Spring ‘25 all around us, to listen to mine and Javier’s curated selection of options for the official runway track-list. “Ode to Boy” was a clear winner, but so was that Bowie duet - this meant we were craving a cover, and hidden at the bottom of my second playlist was Okay Kaya’s rendition of “Believe”. The second I played it for the team on Javier’s pristine new B&O speaker, I could see in their reactions that the song would become the emotional focal point of this year’s track-list. Javier presented a few more songs, which all made it into his final edit; Jessica Pratt’s “Life Is”, Daffodil’s & Dirt’s “Broxtowe Girl” and “Double Dip Neon”, “Dirty Hiroshima” by Moon Safari Rarities, and Clark’s “Clutch Pearlers”.
Each selection plays a very specific and important role in the set. The first 16 seconds of “Broxtowe Girl” acts as the perfect introduction - everyone has taken their seats, it becomes clear to the crowd that the mood in the venue has shifted, the show will now begin - it elegantly sets the table for Jessica Pratt’s wonderfully unique and capturing vocals in “Life Is” to shine bright. From Pratt’s classically beautiful voice we move into the modernity of “Dirty Hiroshima” to signal a change of pace as its piano intro dually offers a seamless transition into “Ode to Boy", the anchor song of everything we consequently discovered. Then comes “Double Dip Neon”, providing another instrumental transition into “Clutch Pearlers”, our most up-beat track of the mix, purposely timed to arrive at the mid-way point of the runway presentation. It’s the mid-show jolt of energy. From this point on, it becomes time to round out the show - possibly the most influential piece of the set, the part that will resonate most deeply with the audience - last year it was Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read my Mind”, and this year, Okay Kaya’s “Believe” was primed to fulfill this purpose. A teary-eyed and sentimental last four minutes of the show is brought to a close as Javier circles back to “Life Is” for the finale and model parade.
A 14-minute set of music, created by four months of work, in partnership with those who have years of Tibi experience under their belt - Amy’s been working with Javier since her first runway debut for Spring 2005. There are two significant trends present here, 1) creating from scratch can take a very, very long time, and 2) the rapport that exists when collaborating with creative minds who have worked together for decades is an irreplaceable intangible that we are very lucky and grateful to have cultivated at Tibi throughout our history.
The playlist of songs used in our Spring 2025 runway show can be found here on our Tibi Spotify Account. The inspiration playlist that led to the final track-list can be found here.
Love hearing the backstory on the music. It was an incredible show on every dimension.
The show was PERFECTION.