The past, the present, and the future for Collina Strada

Everything is political, and so is fashion. In history, brands have often engaged in social activism, especially those that follow subcultures and challenge social norms. Collina Strada’s creative director, Hillary Taymour, made sure of that. And as models strutted down the concrete runway, she threw shade at the past and painted hues onto the future. The Spring 2026 ready-to-wear “Shade” collection unpacked what’s been left behind while embracing the art of moving forward. 
    
Staged on a helipad at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, the show began at golden hour with that fleeting, godly sunlight filtering through fabric, revealing every thread woven into the story. 

There’s no recurring motif in Collina Strada’s collections. No seasonal continuity. And that’s the point. The brand thrives in a beautifully manic state, where geometric constructions and chaotic graphics shout loud enough to stand alone.
 
Collina Strada's production team thinks differently, and each year they come up with a different concept that feels magical and whimsical. By now, fashion die-hards know Collina Strada for its strange natures. A few seasons back, the collection morphed into another life form. Last year, the runway doubled as a lawn-mowing performance. This year? The chakras aligned, rising from the heart to the crown, as the brand got more poetic and economical than ever. Models walking in pairs, one of which is a shadow, mirroring the full look. 

But beyond the funhouse theatrics, Shade marked Taymour’s deeper experiment with silhouettes, structure, and colour. With peplum flounces and ballooning bubble shapes, Taymour cranked up the volume, proving that fabric can scream without saying a word. A flared peplum cinched over wide-leg cargo jeans met its match in a muted pink-green empire-waist top, which defied the fitted bodice trope by holding its shape mid-air. Trailing just a few steps behind: the shadow. Dressed head to toe in sheer black, the shadow echoed the silhouette of the look in front in a dark monochrome palette.

As more pairs of models followed behind, the collection became increasingly cohesive and harmonious. Each outfit had one thing in common: fur hats. The hair master, appropriately, was Musada Yanaz, who collaborated with Taymour to explore just how much unhinge is unhinge. Enter the human-hair hat. Yes, human hair. Created for 40 looks, each piece came in a variety of forms, from baseball caps to bucket hats. 

Exaggerated in shape and rich in colour and print, every garment was designed to connect, one after the other. Maximalist at heart, Taymour initially envisioned a vibrant, high-saturation palette. But an artist can’t make art without assets. With that in mind, the tones were dialled down, muted, but never dull — aligning with her customers’ aesthetic while still keeping the surrealism alive in the garment’s colour mélange. 

What defined the collection was a patchy column wedding dress in cream fabric and white lace, with raw hemlines that skimmed the body from top to bottom. An intentional patchwork of fabric scraps, Taymour proves that upcycling can still be avant-garde — sustainable, yes, but never boring.

Meanwhile, the shadow counterpart felt very much like Winona Ryder circa the Beetlejuice era. Taymour also focused on the metals, using gold for radiance and silver for monochrome. The dresses were the opposition between love and hate, reminding us that in a world full of peace, there would be chaos haunting behind.

Collina Strada celebrated the chaos of recession by throwing it back to the ’80s with boxy shoulders, cinched waists, and exaggerated silhouettes. A playful reflection of the shift in mindset where people are starting to confront the indications of economic recession, extravagant and rebellious, with self-expressive fashion being one of the revolutionary factors. 

As César A. Cruz famously said, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. Adopting the philosophy in its collection, Collina Strada invites those of us living in the light to confront the realities of those left in the dark. One step at a time, Taymour continues to stitch her values into the fabric of social justice.

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