Thu 18th February
Category is: ribbit couture. For autumn/winter 2021, green-minded Hillary Taymour – founder of New York label Collina Strada – transformed her creative community into a series of lovable creatures. Playwright Jeremy O. Harris, alongside models Jazzelle Zanaughtti and Aaron Philip, each became frogs, snakes, geckos and even dinosaurs in gif-from. It was both joyous and a clever way of energising the lookbook format.
The wacky nature of it all felt attuned to the Collina Strada brand, too. Taymour’s bohemian, new age, hippy-twinged fashions are eco-conscious and bound to no gender. The designer mainly upcycles, and this collection saw her involve not only leftover fabrics from previous seasons, but also her initial toiles – which were morphed into many of the final looks. This season saw Taymour lavish in spontaneity. In her whimsical universe, her clan of free-spirits wear flower power catsuits, spray-painted jeans and zig-zag gowns with built-in panniers.
Like many of her American contemporaries, Taymour has her thoughts cast on a post-pandemic world, when clothes can be lived in. Luckily, this is the sort of garb you want to wear dancing, to reunite with friends and family in, or even wearing whilst you pretend to be a reptile – if that’s what you’re into.
Photography courtesy of Collina Strada.
