Please Don’t Eat My Friends… Collina Strada AW23 #NYFW

A “fungus fun fact” – you don’t come across one of those in fashion every day. Yet said fact – “everything is connected by microscopic little filaments under our feet” – gets first mention in Hillary Taymour’s notes for her Collina Strada show.

Taymour titled the show “Please Don’t Eat My Friends,” those friends being animals. She has made environmental responsibility and transparency core to her brand, and everything she does radiates outward from there.

Big picture, Taymour wants to use her fashion to honor and protect the Earth. Smaller picture, she makes clothes to express both “our inner show pony” – a fun-loving, daring sort – and “our inner workhorse,” who gets it done and is “strangely practical.” For fall, Taymour did so with a deft fusion of imagination, wit, offbeat styling and impressive execution. And many options. In 37 looks, she showed a wealth of wardrobe-building pieces.

Overall, the clothes are charming but not cute (save for some animal horns that protruded here and there, and tails that swished from the backsides of suits); audacious but not aggressive. (The animal masks – delightful!) Taymour loves layers, unfussy pilings of sometimes discordant patterns and textures, many intended to “copy” those found naturally – animal-skin textures and patterns – and an ample dose of plaids. Those are the unifiers. As for silhouette, take your pick. There was structure, in a round-skirted bustier dress. There was also a good deal of slouch, as in several cargo-pants looks, including one with a photo-print portrait of a pooch. Conversely, some looks were spare and seductive. Case in point: bloomers, one pair worn with a corset and another, in a racy mesh layering with a T-shirt and leggings.

Taymour focuses acutely on craft. A moment of outright elegance came in an unfettered, bias-cut dress in biodegradable chocolate satin with animal-horn shoulders (make that elegance with a twist). And she countered such simplicity with more involved cuts – crushed velvet pants with tiered ruffles on one side; a beautiful plaid flannel suit with padded flowers appliqued into the jacket hem.

Heightening the overall mood of interesting ease: spiffy decorated footwear from Taymour’s new collaboration with Vans. It all came together in an inviting lineup – appealing clothes, perfect for the devoted show pony who wants to be comfortable while being noticed. As for the workhorse – she can be practical and look great, too.