These models don’t beat around the bush.
At the Collina Strada New York Fashion Week show on Friday, organizers took the collection’s title, “Touch Grass,” literally.
The extravaganza was held in an East Village green space, where a grassy knoll was turned into an unconventional catwalk upon which models pushed lawnmowers and rolled around in mud.
“We’re still trying to have a fun, goofy Collina, but in a grown way,” creative director Hillary Taymour told Vogue of the show.
The first frock — a slinky green number with a patterned bodice and a chartreuse chiffon skirt — was presented to onlookers on a model who cheekily tossed a handful of sod at Paramore rocker Hayley Williams, who was sitting in the front row.
Williams was just one of the VIP attendees at the event. Vice President Kamala Harris’ famously fashionable stepdaughter Ella Emhoff was also in the crowd.
Meanwhile, some of the models were also headline hitters of their own.
Among those who walked the runway 83-year-old Elizabeth Sweetheart, better known as the Green Lady of Brooklyn, whose lime green tresses stole the spotlight.
The new collection — and the show itself — was designed to provide some levity amid turbulent times, with Strada turning to nature for inspiration.
“I feel like everyone is a bit overwhelmed this season,” the designer told Vogue of “Touch Grass.”
“There’s a lot of chaotic energy with everything that’s happening on the planet and the election, and so I’m just trying to be grateful that I have a small, healthy business; trying to find inner peace, keep a smile on my face and not get overwhelmed.”
While acrobatics and lawn mowing models might seem out of place at a New York Fashion Week catwalk, it’s standard fare for Collina Strada, which is notoriously no stranger to the peculiar and unorthodox.
In fact, last year, models donned animal prosthetics while crawling down the catwalk while sporting the designer’s fall 2023 collection.