Yahoo Lifestyle Collina Strada Will Not Be Silenced
Collina Strada muse — Black, transgender, differently abled model Aaron Rose Philip — has rolled down the New York Fashion Week runway in her wheelchair dozens of times. But this season, when model casting itself could be seen as a form of political resistance, it hit different.
“I can’t separate it, because it is my work,” said Hillary Taymour, one of the few designers so far this week to talk about politics.
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“L.A. was on fire when I was in the middle of this,” said the creative, who has been on a journey to sustainability from her start in 2009, using deadstock and upcycled fabrics in her collections and drawing attention to climate change in her branding and music.
What does one say with clothes in 2025, when climate change is but one of many issues being shelved by the Trump administration?
“We wanted to play with proportions to keep our armor up, have big glasses to hide our tears,” Taymour said of the ballooning windbreakers, ragbag florals, thready checks and lingerie layers, and Frankenstein-stitched knits, explaining how she upcycled men’s coats, old prom and wedding dresses from thrift stores to create the lived-in romanticism with a touch of “Oliver Twist.”
“I want to start a program where people can bring their mom or their grandma’s wedding dresses and we can modernize them,” said Taymour. A cool-looking dress with a bodice of white burned-out lace and rosettes dissolving into choppy white layers, and cinched by a low-slung leather belt, proved she can do it.
“I’m trying to continue to lift up trans women and create a special space for women’s rights, and I feel so horrible about what’s happening,” she said, reflecting on a loss of innocence perhaps, as represented by the two young girls she’d set up to do art projects and play at a doll house as guests filed into the show venue. “Everyone I know will be affected, including my nieces out there.”
Launch Gallery: Collina Strada Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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