Art + Words / MARS
Editor / Phil Gomez
For SS27, ten NYFW collections stood out as inhabiting distinct energetic worlds. Some flared into deep space, while others folded into a pocket dimension. Others transformed before our eyes, and some built small altars for us to enter and witness. Together, they formed a sequence, each with its own pace, biome, and allure.
At Fashion Week, bodies morph silhouettes and fabric creates architecture. From a room, a space, or a place lit as a convincing, or crude, runway, we are transported to a far-off world. Fashion, like our own planetary system, is cyclical, orbiting in concentric rings around a larger gravitational force: beauty, desire, capital? All of it.
Together, these collections form a convincing little solar system. Enjoy.
photos / @cristiaandiaz
Monday, September 14th at LAVAN
The Blonds presented their 20th Anniversary Runway Show without a specific theme; instead, it was an homage to themselves and their two decades of work and impact on the fashion industry. David and Phillipe Blond revisited and reinvented their own work, including archival looks and signature moments. With Motorola Razr in tow, the duo brought back 2000s club decadence; dress code on 1000 and a shameless prop plug that just worked. These pieces were vehicles for visibility, and they chose models and celebrities who could not outshine or be outshone, but instead amplify the flair. We’re talking Paris Hilton, Dominique Jackson, Jillian Hervey of LionBabe, Hari Nef, Susanne Bartsch, Bodine, Vitoria Rodrigues, and more. A generous littering of precious Swarovski crystals, industrial metal chains, freshwater pearls, heavy-duty boning, and leather, both over- and undersized in the most homoerotic ways. We couldn’t look away. If you looked closely and were well-cultured in style, you would spot cameo recreations from pop culture.
photos / @themomentdept
Saturday, September 12th at NYU Tisch
Allina Liu brought the runway down from its usual stage into a transitional and phantom-like space. Lit from above and set barefoot in a heap of soil, the collection paired the vast, mighty protection of large boulders with fabrics and hardware built to withstand all weather. This intimate setup placed the audience and model face-to-face, turning fashion from spectacle into encounter. Eye to eye with the models and the couture, spectators could take in and truly enjoy the details of the looks as if they were enjoying a moment in the fitting room mirror. Liu was inspired to move toward something less wasteful and truly wearable, crafting outfits that move and fit your body, not the other way around.
photos / @andryeze
Saturday, September 12th at The Downtown Manhattan Heliport
Mercury is the planet of language and exchange, and this collection communicates through more than juxtaposition: it explores Patricio Campillo’s roots through Mexican charro culture and references to Día de Muertos. In Medias Res is a Latin phrase meaning “in the midst of things.” Like Mercury, the story and inspiration behind this line are littered with ephemeral feelings, restless and purposefully ‘accidental’ stylings, and a tacit bond to our inherited identity. Campillo spoke in contradictions, flirtations, and riddles in this Charro-inspired gear. Dyed horsehair formed a vertical trim, biologically derived polymer produced by bacteria read as mercurial, silk dupion jackets anchored the look, and Mexico City artisanal silver and onyx completed it. The looks challenged guests to read between the lines, looking for clues to the underlying stories and feelings each one was communicating without words.
photos / @colinsavercool
Wednesday, September 9th at The Standard, East Village
Pipenco’s SS27 collection made fashion feel almost tactile enough to stuff into my mouth and gobble. Inspired by Muma Pǎdurii of Romanian folklore, this collection protected the frailty of nature while reminding us that fashion, and Venusian ideals, are not about sex-evoking silhouettes and male-centered sensuality. Inspired by a misunderstood monster, the show welcomes viewers to look closer and see the keeper of the forest for what it is: a gentle protector of its inhabitants. In The Standard’s hidden side garden of Eden, the models were embellished and costumed as organic creatures or walking ecosystems: forest fungi, spider webs, moss, and sturdy, sanded driftwood. With the same love and devotion, Lorena Pipenco used 100% textile donations from FABSCRAP to create each branching look in the collection. Honeycombed constructions, curling forms, and textures that looked alive; Pipenco created a world rooted in inner nature, one that proved far richer and more evocative than simply pastoral. Every look had painstaking detail, from the styling’s color theory to the purposeful arrangement of each undulating cobweb. The model’s makeup looked spritzed on like a conjured illusion or a misty mask. This was Venus in her more mysterious form: sensual, fertile, interconnected, and unafraid to be grotesque in pursuit of true beauty.
photos / @creepykelli
Tuesday, September 8th at Bolex Studios
Twink’s SS27 collection was Mars in motion: hot, explosive, colorful, and impossible to keep still. Even the venue was scorched, leaving hot beads of sweat dripping down our brows as divas wreathed in Dunkin Donuts mitts served confections, twinks in US of A stars and stripes and recorders, and fur straight from the sexiest coyote traipsed down the runway. Designed by The Twink Nextdoor and creatively directed by Vega Harlan, this collection preserved rugged campground motifs with a cheeky conjunction of hyper-feminine queer streetwear. With melted plastics, tinsel and sequins, fur and ostrich feathers, the collection hid easter eggs and delicious accents to discover as the models did their full 360 lap back and forth. Every look appeared to hold its own kinetic charge, a performance, an interplay with the prop-like features of the couture. Whipped cream sprayed into mouths, buttcheeks peeked out lecherously, and Americana at last found its truest form: pageantry. Everyone worth knowing was there, or walking amongst the bright green turf, and they weren’t shy about it.
photos / @latinamericamode
Friday, September 11th at The Lighthouse
Rio Uribe’s newest collection explored optimism in new ways, emulating the marked contrast of Lui’s Barragán architecture, the generous and carnivorous influence of plants, and a new take on his previous collections: a raw trace of joy spreading over a punk aesthetic. It truly operated according to Jupiterian logic: ecstatic surprises awaited you from the front, side, or back of the garment. Unexpected, exaggerated shapes, colliding textures, and surprise accents appeared where you’d least expect them. Rio interrupted expectation in a way that appeared irresponsible (and I mean that positively): see-through chiffon, starlit sweet taffetas, natural dyes from dark, sweet beets and berries. Nipples were not excluded, with floral-accented pasties and a coned bra that rivals the classic bullet form. Both hopeful and ecstatic, the styling and beauty felt straight from an experimental punk’s vanity. High-gloss, translucent latex and vinyl held botanicals like high-def cyanotypes. Easily, Jupiter is a silver lining of luck, while still delivering a touch of gratification. RIO felt like Jupiter, not only in its premise but in its presentation, rendering guests feeling lucky to have been invited to witness the collection’s rose-colored hue.
photos / @picturesbybilly + @oliverhalfin
Sunday, September 13th at The Chelsea Hotel
Within the walls of the historic and sexy Hotel Chelsea, ZALDY approached SS27 with Saturnian dignity and authority. Inspired by nautical lore and, of course, paired with gender subversion, uniforms in this confine of pure indulgence were anything but utilitarian. Like a ship breaking waves, the undertow of office-chic sirens, Johnny Overboard promised treasure, and it came through. Paying tribute to tradition, these designs featured disciplined stitching of copper thread on structured jackets, sheer and silk fabrics rippling like a ship’s half sail, leather sprinkled with glimmer like salt and sand, beadwork bodices like a heavily decorated pirate, and mundane treasures fit for a seafarer’s crown. Though Saturn is often known for being restrictive, Zaldy meshed a put-together, ‘buttoned up’ charisma with the unbuttoned and excessively erotic nature of purposeful styling. This is classic ZALDY’s theatrical, camp influence on the fashion world, creating a runway and subsequent private afterparty that was sought after, restricted from the general public, and yet hedonistic, strange, and decadent. There was no fool’s gold, only 14K flamboyance in attendance.
photos / @eterno.tjc
Wednesday, September 9th at The Arlo Williamsburg
FANG’s clean edges and utility-minded silhouettes gave SS27 a sense of utility: clothing as structure, protection, and proposition of insurgency. Conforming to no single gender, body shape, or aesthetic, Fang Guo continues fulfilling the promise of collections that can be styled for the unmemorable everyday, a night never to forget, or barely remember. This collection was inspired by Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, pairing organic and synthetic, and the grooves and shapes that modulate in our anatomy and bodily geometry. A contradiction of sorts, Uranus lives between multiple worlds and communities, working to break existing molds and reform them into a place more ubiquitous and fair. Dance integrated through, dynamically portraying the understood aesthetics of queer clubs and raves. Counterculture aesthetics and the exchange of robotic versus biologic screamed Uranus revolution. Chunky knitwear was ribbed into vertical and horizontal grooves mimicking the human form. Sheer materials and draped, translucent, slinky fabrics float and flow, like they’re walking out of a candy-colored red planet from Dune. Workwear meets the promise of equestrian or utilitarian style, with grommets, plating, and leather in outfits that could be worn by anyone, anywhere, but still feel both existing and futuristic. While the world will continue to change around us, this collection could certainly spend a lifetime in someone’s closet.
photos / @jenacumbo
Saturday, September 12th at Storm King Art Center
Collina Strada’s SS27 world conjured out a pure mist and meeting of multiple definitions of renaissance. Hillary Taymour brought back sustainable, environmentally friendly fabrics, along with conceptual sets and seating that gave the impression of a festival or outdoor theatre. Located in Upstate New York, the brand chose to host in a space that wasn’t necessarily convenient, but pushed guests to leave the city and enter a playground made just for them. The collection brought counterculture to something purely romantic, with fabrics fit for a fairy: organza, chiffon, silk, lace, and shantung. Shoulders were ruched into billowing Gigot style, gowns trailed like a bride on a wedding day, and patterns didn’t overthink a clash when playing together in a piece. Moire is moire, and plaid also made an appearance; quite a smattering of upcycled materials and accouterments appeared blissfully on lapels, hemlines, and atop heads. A dance party followed the runway and Carly Rae Jepsen’s performance, filling the day and the show with Neptune’s universal connectedness.
photos / @filippofior + @creepykelli
Thursday, September 10th at Mercer Labs
Tyler McGillivary’s SS27 collection welcomed us into a holographed field of flowers, rain + thunder, along with the sublime after-storm quiet. Inspired by a Digital Garden narrative with a game heroine named Petal, the show created a beautiful, liminal projection cast across its immersive runway. Models walked a maze-like runway through flowing seats, becoming part of an interactive science exhibit. Glitches, nature sounds, and a fantastical narrative immersed viewers in a collection that morphed as the show continued. Jewel-toned hues ran through the collection, jolting it, charged with bright blue, magenta that bites, and an ochre yellow I could wade into like a bath. This is Pluto territory: the beauty of becoming something else entirely. The collection starts with pieces more reminiscent of their past work, with real-world color swatches and hyperdigital prints. The show soon synced with the storm, bringing more sculpted glass jewelry and adornments by artist Clara Schweers, bespoke ornamental umbrellas, and psychedelic shapes created by ruffles and dripping knitwear.
