Understated, ambient and shimmering Carlota Barrera’s Autumn / Winter 2022 collection titled The Last Run was an ode to the joy of après-ski. Hosted on Monday night in a Chelsea Hotel models and guests mingled in a party setting with the collection worn by models who were hard to distinguish from the guests. The presentation seemed to flirt with the traditional separation of watched and watcher, Barrera said “It’s the way we always do it”. The clothes sat on hangers in the shadows, on models-turned-guests and a screening of the beautiful film tucked away from the thriving bar.
Celebration was key to the collection and hybrid presentation, however an underlying concern for the environmental impact of the fashion industry also inspired the designer. Barrera explained in a conversation with METAL at the event, “the seasons are disappearing” both in terms of what we expect in a collection and also due to climate change. It’s something that felt particularly relevant since a few days before the intense storm Eunice put trains, buses and driving off the cards last Friday across the UK. Taking her colour palette from the turbulent natural world the collection features cocoa brown, olive green, charcoal and a splash of red-orange with her house night-sky navy. Garments range from tailored shots to a glossy leather jacket made from deadstock material: whose appearances flag climatic incoherence and a conscious response to that. Suit jackets from past collections were shockingly re-inserted into this new collection in a rebellious approach to brand longevity and statement of confidence in a truly timeless design.
Barrera might not have made it to the slopes this year, but her key point of departure was an image of friends, or lovers, sunbathing together on the slopes in the ‘50s along with her childhood memories of skiing in Granada. We can safely say that the elegant tailoring of The Last Run will slalom gracefully into the bars of St.Moritz to Kitzbuhel.
Barrera might not have made it to the slopes this year, but her key point of departure was an image of friends, or lovers, sunbathing together on the slopes in the ‘50s along with her childhood memories of skiing in Granada. We can safely say that the elegant tailoring of The Last Run will slalom gracefully into the bars of St.Moritz to Kitzbuhel.
