Print Project: Runway

Five million viewers from more than 190 countries tuned into the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai late last November to see a top-tier lineup of models clad in the company’s latest collection, performers ranging from Harry Styles to Miguel, and nearly 68,000 square feet of fabric for the show’s immersive, panoramic graphic backdrop. From a print industry insider’s point of view, the massive stage backdrop with continuously changing light projections stole the show.

PNH Solutions, a Montreal-based large-format PSP that has previously provided largescale backdrops for the 2016 Invictus Games and 2015 Pan American Games, partnered with Solotech, another company out of Montreal specializing in audio, lighting, and video systems, to execute the colossal undertaking. While Solotech worked with 4U2C to orchestrate the striking visual effects, PNH was tasked with creating and implementing the printed fabric panels and corresponding hardware for both the rehearsal at the Videotron Center in Quebec City and the show broadcast from China. 

PNH imaged 13 separate fabric “techno mesh” panels with the shop’s Durst Rhotex 320 printer, with individual panels measuring up to 113 feet wide and 46 feet tall. The panels were then tightly joined together with zippers and suspended from the ceiling with an aluminum cable. The entire backdrop was held together at the base with a fabric tension display composed of modular steel piping. The challenge for PNH? Ensuring that the fabric and frame were exactly the same size to avoid any creases, folds, or loose areas that could affect the light projections. After a number of tests and tweaks, PNH succeeded in preparing both the fabric panels and frame to the exact dimensions requested by the show, without an inch to spare. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details – and in this industry, no detail is too minute.