Vegetables, like anything else, are subject to the finicky whims of the market. Kale has been having a moment that has lasted several years, and swiss chard and beet tops and jerusalem artichokes all pop up on trendy artisanal menus. People keep drinking celery juice, despite the fact that it's not actually all that healthy. But at New York Fashion Week, the humble lettuce leaf seemed poised to take flight.
Slime green was everywhere last summer, but this season the color seems somehow healthier, like it was bottled at Juice Press. Collina Strada designer Hillary Taymour even hosted a farmer's market for her Spring 2020 presentation. Guests were encouraged to take foodstuffs with them on the way out; my friend whipped out a leftover baguette during Puppets and Puppets. But carbs aren't exactly popular at fashion week. Lettuce is much more of a thing. The trash cans at Spring Studios were full of Sweetgreen containers.
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A lot of designers showed bright, healthy greens for spring; they were at Collina Strada, Tom Ford, Sandy Liang, and Kate Spade (who had a model walk with a potted plant down the runway). But certain brands showed green garments in voluminous silhouettes that looked like heads of fresh lettuce, purchased from a bearded farmer in Union Square who left the city to grow things and weld in Woodstock. Christopher John Rogers showed an enormous draped, shimmering green cape that looked like it had been grown in particularly glamorous ground. A ruffled dress at Maryam Nassir Zadeh looked like a head of butter lettuce, or baby kale. And Marc Jacobs showed what amounted to a stunning Cabbage Patch doll; an immaculately constructed leather cape with a hood decorated with floral embellishments, like its own mini garden. I'm inspired to go to the Greenmarket.
Christopher John Rogers
Photos via Imaxtree / Getty