Collina Strada FW24 Flexes Femininity
Titled “STRENGTH,” the collection sees designer Hillary Taymour highlight the power of womanhood inside “Collina’s Gym.”
A New York Fashion Week runway isn’t the first destination that comes to mind for a midday workout session, and pumpkins aren’t top of the list for dumbbell substitutes either. But in Collina Strada’s world, anything goes — and that’s exactly the spectacle the brand put on for its Fall/Winter 2024 collection, titled “STRONGER.”
At Rockefeller Center, designer Hillary Taymour welcomed showgoers to “Collina’s Gym,” the fortuitous fashion club where “your inner feminine power takes outer chiseled form.” There, the designer’s mission is clear: “With women constantly passed over for power positions, the femme body has long been shaped by the imagination of men. It’s about time we resculpted that meat-headed vision into something closer to the reality of femininity—something altogether sweatier yet more refined.” Lifting weight-shaped squashes while marching down the runway, Collina Strada’s campy, feminine brigade articulated this sentiment through 36 looks.
The line was crafted out of deadstock textiles and doused in Taymour’s classic, vivid graphics. A melting floral pattern commanded trousers and dresses in the opening ensembles, while a seafoam bubble jacket proudly revealed a model’s pregnancy in Look 4. A subsequent, skin-tight top was beefed-up with jacked arms and rippling abs, offering a more literal commentary on the collection’s source material. Soon after, a bright orange dress was fueled with padding akin to that of a football uniform, and another model showed off their real muscles in charcoal sweatshorts and black lace boxers. Collina Strada’s words rang loud: “Femme is a flex.”
In the following looks, the brand’s illustrative prints commanded slip dresses, molded denim, muscle shirts and flannel tops. The line continued to grow stronger, with trench coats adopting massive, round shoulders; hybrid formalwear highlighting the power of the female body with corsetry, and ruffled dresses building on the human silhoeutte with bigger arms. Taymour, in one word, described the collection best: “swole.”
See Collina Strada’s Fall/Winter 2024 “STRONGER” collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more New York Fashion Week coverage.
