NEW YORK, N.Y. – On a dystopian set with One World Trade Center beaming its blue light into the night sky this Sept. 11, Givenchy took Manhattan on a pier Friday before a star-studded crowd, remembering tragedy and celebrating fashion at the same time.

Riccardo Tisci, the French fashion house’s creative director, worked with performance artist Marina Abramovic on the Waterworld-esque set of walls made of recycled metal and wooden shards, seating his huge crowd on stacked wooden pallets and benches as models walked in looks of mostly black and white.

There was lace, there were sheers and there were tuxedo jackets for both men and women.

Givenchy chose New York Fashion Week: The Shows rather than Paris this season to mark the opening of its new store in the city, along Madison Avenue where it last lived in the city in 2006.

Fan Kim Kardashian, who showed off her baby bump in sheer black, was in the audience with husband Kanye West. They were joined, among others, by Julia Roberts in a T-shirt adorned with Tisci’s face, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, Margot Robbie and Nicki Minaj, who was in a body-hugging animal print dress. Also there were athletes Amar’e Stoudemire, Victor Cruz and Russell Westbrook (showing his own fashion line this season), and father-daughter Steven and Liv Tyler.

Among the models were Kim’s little sis Kendall Jenner.

Givenchy calmed the crowd, including more than 800 members of the public who received tickets to watch from the sidelines, with a soundtrack of chanting and other music honouring six cultures and religions.

The collection itself was part elegant ease in roomy black trousers with loose ribbon on the outer seams and part boudoir come-and-get-me lace. Some looks included eerie face adornments in lacy patterns while other models had multiple spike earrings with nodules attached at the tops of their nose bridges. Among grander looks was a black skinny trouser encased in a sheer structured shell.

Ricci has a special fondness for Tisci. They first met 10 years ago.

“He made my wedding dress for me and yeah, he’s great,” she said on a red carpet set up ahead of the runway walk.

Courtney Love was more specific about her love of Givenchy: “It’s edgy, it’s cool and it’s kind of dark.”

Roberts was once featured in Givenchy ads and added: “I definitely think that my cool factor went up when Riccardo asked me to do the campaign.”

For the Tylers, it was dad-daughter date night, a rare occasion for the two of them.

“We don’t get them very often,” Liv Tyler said. “Usually there’s a big pack of us, so to be alone is really special.”

Models navigated the winding, open-air runway in treacherous heeled mules, including several steps up and down stacked wood pallets. Two toppled as they navigated this world, described in show notes by Abramovic as an event “about forgiveness, inclusivity, new life, hope, and above all, love.”

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Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie

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Associated Press reporter Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.