Photo: Imaxtree
On the first day of New York Fashion Week, Hillary Taymour invited a crowd of fashion editors, tastemakers, celebrities and friends of the brand to the largest rooftop farm in the five boroughs, in Brooklyn's Sunset Park, to witness Collina Strada's first live runway show since the world went into lockdown in 2020. With the sun setting over the greenery of Brooklyn Grange, a cast of frequent collaborators and their loved ones came out dancing, skipping and strutting in a celebration of "chaotic" dressing.
Collina Strada's Spring 2022 collection, titled "Snails Pace," goes beyond reflecting the far-from-precedented times we live in (as many designers have ventured to do over the past 18 months) and chooses to embrace a sartorial sensibility that isn't rooted in sense at all. It's intuitive, reactive and emotional. It's driven by feeling, not by plans. It's a reflection of our lived experiences — "an old wedding dress dyed green from rolling in the grass," the show notes suggest or "a nugget of trash" picked up on the street "that might make a good belt buckle," for instance.
"It's a chaotic time. The world is changing and so are you. You dress for the mess — print on print, layer on layer. Your mind is everywhere at once," the show notes read.
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On the surface, the mixed-print, DIY feel of the clothes may look "chaotic," but take a second and you'll really notice how carefully considered these garments are — the ruching on the bust of a slip dress, the sheer star cut-out on the back of a silky duster, the panniers on a high-low skirt that floats with the wind. Nothing is too precious, though: These are clothes to live your life in, fully and joyfully.
Through her work at Collina Strada, Taymour has become a thought-leader for sustainability in fashion, and she continues to build on these values this season. She chose Brooklyn Grange as the backdrop for her Spring 2022 debut to introduce the audience to the possibility of rooftop gardens in New York City; the show notes came with a template for a letter that attendees could send to their landlords about implementing their own green infrastructure in their buildings.
See the full Collina Strada Spring 2022 collection in the gallery below.
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