I hungrily watched New York Fashion Week from my internet portal here in Switzerland. I am missing the energy, diversity and general messiness of life in New York City, particularly Brooklyn.
Three designers who chose to buck Manhattan and exhibit in its less polished but more forward thinking sister-borough, collectively captured for me this chaotic, sometimes joyful, often rebellious spirit of Brooklyn life.
Collina Strada, by Hillary Taymour, sent models of every imaginable shape, size and skin color down the runway in her colorful and raucous collection of clothing that reminded me of the surprisingly artful work that sometimes comes out of kindergarten classrooms – free spirited, without boundaries and somehow visually balanced without being calculated. The essence of “free to be you and me,” her show was confident, brazen, messy and so very Brooklyn.
Designer Raul Lopez of Luar and the partner duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta of Eckhaus Latta are both known for their gender fluid designs. Like Collina Strada's show, both of these featured a broad diversity of models. As for design, Luar contrasted sharp, sometimes deconstructed tailoring in crisp shirting and suiting fabrics with activewear designs and leather bondage details, a clear dismissal of Manhattan office conventions.
Eckhaus Latta also challenged propriety with models who strutted defiantly though a grungy Bushwick parking lot, daring media elites to race from The Borough to the other borough to catch the show on time. Equally defiant designs included skin-baring cutouts, jackets without shirts, deconstructed knits, sheers, and the unexpected use of closures.