Elena Velez RTW Spring 2023
With her latest collection, titled “In Glass,” CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award winner Elena Velez took on the politically charged topic of the female body with a collection that was aggressive in its militaristic tailoring, confining cage-like harnesses and cinching corsets, some with a surgical look, and gentle in its lovely hand-dyed micro-pleated gowns, repurposed parachute skirts and ruched dresses with lingerie-like thong, garter and cutout details.
The look: Aggressively delicate, as the designer calls it.
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Quote of note: “‘A bloodletting for woman in her most insufferable and divine glory; iron-forged, erotic, extraterrestrial, esoterically burdened and communing in dark magic sorority. A shrieking display of female hysteria reverberating back against cultural hypocrisy, anatomical subjugation and the confiscation of volition.” How’s that for a collection description? Velez’s special guest was Julia Fox, someone who knows a bit about the perils of navigating womanhood in the public eye.
The verdict: Her fits and finishing were much improved from last season. And it’s refreshing to have Velez rising in the New York scene, and reflecting on the feminist implications of fashion while she’s at it. It will be interesting to see how she translates that sentiment more broadly commercially; her body-positive lingerie, edgy underpinnings and corsetry could be a start.
Launch Gallery: Elena Velez RTW Spring 2023
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