The Biggest Theme of Fashion Week So Far: Touch Grass

Backstage at Collina Strada, designer Hilary Taymour told me to “touch grass.” The phrase has been memefied into oblivion, although rarely listened to. It’s what you tell someone when you think they need to get off their phone and get out more. It’s also the name of Taymour's latest collection.

Of course, the irony is that at Fashion Week, being on your phone can feel inescapable. Taking videos with it to capture the clothing in motion (and, you know, to prove that you were there) is a huge part of the experience—especially at Collina Strada.

Taymour’s shows are highly anticipated in the New York fashion world because you never know what will happen. Models often dance or writhe down the runway as original songs with lyrics like, “I care alot-ah, I wear Collina Strada” play in the background. This season’s show began with an equally viral moment when a model did back handsprings (sometimes landing them, sometimes intentionally failing to land them) down the grass runway at New York’s Marble Cemetery. But for the most part, aside from one person who walked with a lawn mower, models simply floated past guests in airy dresses with tiered, asymmetrical ruffles cascading down the body and transparent tops with ruched tulle scrunched like two columns to cover up just enough.

After the show, Taymour told me her inspiration was "kind of that feminine power…Mother Earth, being a woman, finding your strength and creating these feminine, airy things that you can go create in and be yourself and feel powerful.”

The clothing was as crisp and peaceful as the perfect September weather. A pleasant breeze twirled the fabric of the dresses and the models' hair extensions (which were so long, they also touched grass). Taymour joked that she coordinated that part with Mother Nature herself, and it did feel almost divine the way the actual air around us coordinated with the fashion, which was otherworldly enough to make you want to disconnect and just live in the moment, rather than worrying about how you looked.

Earlier in the day, Brandom Maxwell also showed a collection that felt light and airy. In his show notes, he wrote that he was trying to pare things back: “I’ve softly unraveled the brand DNA to create garments that foster a sense of nonchalance.” The result was a ‘90s-like minimalism with a soft color palette and transparent wrap tops and midi skirts that nearly peeled off the body.

Sensuality is also at the core of emerging designer Grace Ling’s appeal, although her collection felt notably more surreal than any others from the first day. Alex Conasani opened the show wearing one of Ling’s signature 3D printed aluminum breastplates. It appeared to be frozen at a point of destruction, with small shards of it placed on a ruched white skirt, as if it had dripped down before crashing on the floor. In New York, designers seem to be suggesting that they’ve indeed touched grass and drifted away from the Y2K chokehold that has become the obsession of younger customers online, in favor of pieces that are made for a peaceful, simple, and ideal existence. And while that certainly doesn’t feel like a uniform for the times, perhaps they are designing for the world they wish we lived in. You have to start somewhere, right? Maybe if we make heavenly clothes, a tranquil era will follow.

Willy Chavarria, though, is, as always, thinking though about the America we currently inhabit. His Spring/Summer 2025 show was titled Welcome to ‘América’ and at the top of the show notes was a quote from Esperanza Quintero: “Whose neck shall I stand on to make me feel superior, and what will I have out of it? I don’t want anything lower than I am. I am low enough already. I want to rise and to push everything up with me as I go.”

Chavarria’s clothing isn’t meant to transport you anywhere and it also doesn’t think it’s too good for you. With high-waisted wide-leg trousers (notably worn with sets of keys jingling from keyholes on the belt), sports jerseys with América written in all bold, and ombre sweatshirts for Chavarria Community College, Chavarria continues to champion the look that defined his Mexican American upbringing. It’s an aesthetic that has spawned a million trends but often goes uncredited. But on Chavarria’s runway, the Willy workwear uniform takes center stage. He also unveiled the brand's Adidas collaboration, which featured pieces like a two piece tracksuits with ruffled necks and sleeve details, a clear nod to design elements of baile folklórico costumes.

His show notes concluded with a quote by Carlos Amado, “The great difference between people in this world is not the difference between the rich and the poor, or the good and the evil. The biggest of all differences in this world is between those that had or have pleasure in love and those that haven't or hadn't any pleasure in love. I don't mean just ordinary love or the kind you can buy. I mean great love.” Chavarria makes clothing with love, for the people he loves, so that maybe one day we can live in an América where we can just exist instead of trying to dress for some great escape.

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