New York has regained its fashion status in recent years, with its fashion week being one in which the levels of creativity, originality, and freedom of expression have never ceased to amaze us. This season, the start has really been something – from the hand, or paw, of the animals of Collina Strada in a proposal where they ask us to please not eat their friends.
Hillary Taymour, the Creative Director behind Collina Strada, has built for her brand an aesthetic and a philosophy that have managed to permeate within the industry and with the consumer: her environmental practices, her eco-friendly philosophy, her acid-trip aesthetic, and her catwalks, where expecting the unexpected is never too much. This has guaranteed her a very important niche within the industry in which she captures the attention of her followers who fully share her aesthetic and live fashion with the same eyes as her, as well as those who are still bewildered by the proposals of another world. Attention is attention, and it is welcome wherever it comes from.
This time, the animal universe that has always been present in the designer's collections takes on its most literal form, with the concept reflected in the models' faces, ears, and hair rather than just the textile proposal. Isamaya Ffrench has created a series of quite realistic prosthetics of animals of all kinds that have merged with the physiques of the models, and not only this, but on the catwalk, each one of them has been asked to transform into their respective character, providing a performance of those that brands have been liking so much lately.
It's understandable that in the face of such a spectacle, little or no attention is drawn to the garments that make up the collection at the time; there is no time to look at the pattern of a pair of trousers when they are barking in your face. This continues the eternal debate on the role of fashion gimmicks within fashion: as entertaining and funny as they are, do they really complement the proposal? Do they get all the attention, overshadowing what should really matter? Do they have a reason to exist, or are they just there to flood our For You page on TikTok the next day? It's a conversation worth having at some point, but not now.
Beyond this, the collection has all the elements that build the brand identity of Collina Strada. Unexpected layering that finds its common thread through the different colour palettes, irregular and asymmetrical silhouettes that contribute to this trippy vibe inherent to the brand, the ecological fabrics to which we are accustomed, and some looks in which we can see a new terrain to be explored. Suits, coats, and structured madras plaid trousers stand out among the confusion and offer a new point of view in which, despite their formality, the essence is not lost, present in the irregular collars and the flowers that adorn the bottom of the garments, a twist that undoubtedly leaves us wanting more.
This time, the animal universe that has always been present in the designer's collections takes on its most literal form, with the concept reflected in the models' faces, ears, and hair rather than just the textile proposal. Isamaya Ffrench has created a series of quite realistic prosthetics of animals of all kinds that have merged with the physiques of the models, and not only this, but on the catwalk, each one of them has been asked to transform into their respective character, providing a performance of those that brands have been liking so much lately.
It's understandable that in the face of such a spectacle, little or no attention is drawn to the garments that make up the collection at the time; there is no time to look at the pattern of a pair of trousers when they are barking in your face. This continues the eternal debate on the role of fashion gimmicks within fashion: as entertaining and funny as they are, do they really complement the proposal? Do they get all the attention, overshadowing what should really matter? Do they have a reason to exist, or are they just there to flood our For You page on TikTok the next day? It's a conversation worth having at some point, but not now.
Beyond this, the collection has all the elements that build the brand identity of Collina Strada. Unexpected layering that finds its common thread through the different colour palettes, irregular and asymmetrical silhouettes that contribute to this trippy vibe inherent to the brand, the ecological fabrics to which we are accustomed, and some looks in which we can see a new terrain to be explored. Suits, coats, and structured madras plaid trousers stand out among the confusion and offer a new point of view in which, despite their formality, the essence is not lost, present in the irregular collars and the flowers that adorn the bottom of the garments, a twist that undoubtedly leaves us wanting more.
