This past Sunday, designer and former CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist Hillary Taymour shut down a small quiet residential street outside Stuyvesant Park, and invited NYFW to the farmer's market for Collina Strada Spring 2020. Lining the runway were tables of colorful produce and flowers, which guests were invited to take home after the show, as models ran, danced, and streaked by in what was a serene carnival of bohemian style.
Full of tie-dye prints and flowing silhouettes, the collection featured every possible accessory under the sun. A shopping cart? Check. A small dog? Yep. A newborn baby? Of course, there's even a matching onesie! Taymour injected a sense of ethereal whimsy into the show through subtle styling choices like a tiny rainbow painted around a model's nostrils or paper-thin cucumber and radish slices used as eyebrows.
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The show renewed Taymour's commitment to eco-conscious fashion and sustainable design with shirts that read "thank you very much for helping" above a drawing of Planet Earth, as well as a sheet of tips and ways to be more environmentally friendly, handed out to guests. The pressing issue of climate change loomed heavily over the show, with performer Zsela mournfully intoning at one point, "This is a song for a dying planet."
Still, the show felt far from somber. There was an air of joy, and dare I say hope, to Taymour's presentation — a vision of the future teaming with energy and life.
Photography: Chloe Horseman