New York Fashion Week is in full — albeit, digital — swing and no one is doing it like Collina Strada. Designer and founder Hillary Taymour debuted the Collina Strada Spring 2021 presentation with her "Change is Cute" collection, featuring an auction of 11 limited-edition t-shirts in collaboration with artist Sean-Kierre Lyons.
On Wednesday, September 16, Taymour and Lyons premiered an animated short film that featured an ensemble cast of friends and models, a virtual candyland, and her new collection against trippy farm animals and swirls. “In this moment of global precarity, the importance of solidarity has never been clearer; in the absence of systems that can hold us, we are forced to hold ourselves,” Collina Strada said in the show’s notes. “We brought together a network of collaborators—longtime co-conspirators and new friends alike—to construct a new virtual world of inclusiveness and joy.”
To further walk the walk of social change, 70% of the profits from the t-shirt auction will go to G.L.I.T.S, a non-profit that provides support and essential care to trans sex workers. According to their website, among providing workers with safe sex supplies and free/low-cost health, G.L.I.T.S' is also working to provide stable housing to stop the cycle of disenfranchisement.
The limited-edition shirts were made in the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, tie-dyed with turmeric and hibiscus, and an ode to Lyons' colorful style and Black folklore. T-shirts are already open for bidding starting at $150 and will remain on the brand's website until September 23.
This is not the first and definitely won’t be the last time Taymour has used fashion as a vehicle for social impact. The socially and environmentally conscious designer has been a champion for climate change since she founded Collina Strada in 2008, with sustainability being a top priority in the manufacturing and distribution of the label’s items. Her colorful, psychedelic prints are a love letter to the Earth, one that suggests a brighter future ahead with its inhabitants.
Watch the Collina Strada SS21 “Change Is Cute” presentation and check out some shots from the collection below:
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