Though the industry may ripple with whispers that New York Fashion Week is over, we’d be inclined to wholeheartedly disagree. The city is home to a vibrant community of rising designers who might not quite be in the leagues of the likes of Marc Jacobs, but are changing not just the face of fashion but also the world in their own small but wholly significant ways: just take the likes of Pyer Moss, Vaquera, and, brief secondment in Florence aside, Telfar should you be looking for examples.
Also making huge waves on the New York fashion scene and beyond is Hillary Taymour, otherwise known as the brains behind socially conscious clothing label Collina Strada. Renowned for her innovative upcycling methods, use of deadstock fabrics, and lo-fi DIY aesthetic (think tie-dye tees, patched-together hoodies, and more than a hint of flower power-fuelled flourishes), Taymour’s line is not only highly covetable, but also carries the message that when it comes to clothing, things can be done in a different way.
Now, Collina Strada has been revealed as the focus of Browns’ ongoing Be Conscious initiative. With the legendary London concept store having previously let Dazed 100 designer Duran Lantink loose in its warehouse, where he took leftover unsold stock and transformed it into a wildly imaginative collection that quickly flew off the boutique’s shelves (both physical and digital), this time around sees Taymour appear in a short film, as she talks through her approach to fashion, her processes, and her SS20 collection, with behind-the-scenes footage of how it all came together also featuring.
With the video’s release coming at a time when much of the world is in a state of lockdown amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Taymour also offers up the ways in which she hopes the fashion industry will move forward post-pandemic. “This is a nice break for designers and brands to really stop and think about whether we really do need to keep producing all this product, or if we can scale things back and just focus on creating the essentials,” she tells us. “There is so much opportunity to navigate a different calendar and path now more than ever before. Once these hard times have passed, it will be interesting to see what comes from this, and I’m hopeful that a lot of companies will start to do better for the planet after such a humbling experience.”
Watch the full video below.