“Everything sucks. We’re all doomed. The world’s on fire, but we’re doing a fashion show because that’s what we know how to do.” So said Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour about the brand’s SS2024 show, referencing the irony of the world carrying on despite the current climate crisis. Read on to find out why the models are smiling so strangely, and why the clothes are so chaotic.
Images are from Vogue Runway where you can see the rest of the collection.
The Collina Strada show took place at New York Fashion Week on 8th September. I’d previously highlighted this brand as ‘One to Watch’ in a post about New York Fashion Week – you can read more here and see which other designers I’ve highlighted.
The models walked the runway with forced smiles, letting the artificial grin drop when they got to the end of the runway.
According to Charlie Engman, a frequent collaborator of Taymour, the “This is Fine” meme was the inspiration – smiling through the mess.
To produce the looks for SS2024, Collina Strada fed all previous collections into AI, then worked on refining what the system rendered.
These then needed to actually be constructed into garments not just for the runway but also for eventual production for clients of the brand.
The resulting looks were a mix of pastiched patterns and textures – draping, sheer fabrics, tartans, distressed denim, lace, corsets and tank tops, but it all came together cohesively.
Models wore shoes from an upcoming collaboration with UGG.
Some carried copies of the upcoming book I Care A Lotta, I Wear Collina Strada, which you can pre-order here.
I’ve seen a lot of negativity to this collection – why are the models smiling, models don’t smile – that’s missing the point of why they’re smiling.
I’ve also seen a lot of comments that the clothes are just plain ugly, which I disagree with. I think despite there being so many different things going on, it does work, though it’s definitely not for everyone.
It’s also a great way of using AI in fashion – lately there’s been so many images of runway outfits that are entirely AI generated, not to mention Metaverse fashion, AI-generated ad campaigns, the fear of AI replacing people in the workplace, etc. The chaos in this collection reflects the unrest and fear around AI (and our doomed planet).
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