Last season’s Collina Strada presentation saw the launch of Social + Studies — designer Hillary Taymour and stylist Gillian Wilkins’ creative studio — and its first series of objects: trapezoid floor-length mirrors that formed the set design. This season, New York-based Taymour was definitely back on the furniture tip, lifting inspiration from lived-in pieces.
“I’ve been doing a furniture collection so I’ve just been drawing shapes and shapes and shapes like a crazy person,” she said backstage as her puppy, Pow Wow, scurried around the set. “So this season, it’s all about reshaping your normal, everyday basic. I don’t want to over-design anymore.”
For Taymour, spring/summer 16’s basics included mechanic-ish jumpsuits, calf-length shift dresses, dark denim jackets, and – as has become Collina Strada’s staple – a few stand out leather separates. Boxy cuts and sleek lines were consistent throughout spring/summer 16’s offerings, but Taymour’s contrast between fabrications – think thick cotton canvasses and light, sheer linens – really nailed the diversity of a complete wardrobe. “All the right bodies in all the wrong fabrics,” she joked.
That not-quite-natural theme carried across into Taymour’s presentation as well. Cara Stricker and Drools performed a live soundtrack – alternating between pounding synth machinations and organic harmonies. Beauty was plain and simple, but slightly-off kilter, with girl’s fingertips coated in a chalky white substance. Social + Studies launched its second object — steel stools rendered in marble, and onyx – set against, what else, but a massive space rock. “I asked how to make a modern and slick piece come back to nature,” Taymour said. “A massive pink rock from Mars.”
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Credits
Text Emily Manning