Epically long fairytale braids, freaky animal prosthetics and fresh vegatables and fruits worn as contour, blush and powder: welcome to the weird, wild world of Collina Strada’s beauty. Consistently, for the reason that label began having runway shows at Recent York Fashion Week, there’s been an undeniably unconventional aesthetic. Provided that runways are all too often dominated by subtle cat-eye flicks and natural make-up, Collina Strada has uniquely propelled itself into being unquestionably essentially the most interesting Recent York label with regards to beauty.

For the label’s most up-to-date SS24 show, models marched forward with forced grins on their faces, to the tune of doomsday-like music. The make-up by Fara Homidi could have been spare – the highlight was the Starface stickers that some models wore across their faces and bodies – but Evanie Frausto wove scraps of cloth, patchworked braided extensions and vibrant DIY-looking chunks through the hair. “That is my fourth or fifth time working with Hillary [Taymour, the brand’s creative director], so I feel like we’ve form of built this Collina person,” Frauso said backstage. “It’s at all times organic, natural – a farm girl, or horse girl that moves to Downtown Recent York but she’s still form of weird. She’s cool and freaky and trendy.” The extension prep took over one month.

The wonder at Collina Strada isn’t really that easy. “It’s about why we’re here when the earth is on fire, after which embracing the female power that may save us,” explains Hillary Taymour, just a number of days before the show. “It’s somewhat bit more feminine than Collina often is. It’s somewhat bit dirty. It’s somewhat bit embracing of queer feminine energy.” To finish the show, King Princess performed because the models danced across the runway of their pastel-powered garb; the resulting effect very much felt like an intimate girls’ sleepover, without the overdone frills.

The designer’s other personal favourite beauty looks include the SS20 show, with cucumbers and radishes on the face, and the label’s collaboration with Gucci Fest wherein Hanne Gaby Odiele was transformed into an ice queen in a video game. And after all, the 20-foot-long braids that trailed the runway for spring 2023 (“We dipped them in mud because I brought mud back from a visit in Sicily, after which Evanie put pigment paint within the mud and we dipped them in and just dragged it”). Also: racoon-like hair that rivalled the perfect days of emo and scene-kid style for SS22.

“I at all times form of mock the normal runway format,” says Taymour, adding that having an experimental beauty look is intrinsic to her vision. “It just is smart for the brand. I feel really fortunate to be in an area where people take me seriously, but I’m literally making a mockery out of fashion at the identical time. But it surely’s because I don’t take fashion very seriously. It’s strong, it’s my business, it’s all the things. But I attempt to bring a lighthearted optimism to fashion and make people rejoice while doing it.”

The aforementioned animal-themed prosthetics from the AW23 show, titled Please Don’t Eat My Friends, were a piece in progress for nearly two years before they became the surreal, lifelike visions that graced the runway. Taymour admits that she spent many of the show’s budget on the make-up, hiring Isamaya Ffrench to create the looks. “We were sitting in my studio, she’s sitting on the ground painting prosthetics three days before the show,” Taymour remembers. “It was hardcore low-budget, back-of-house type actions. I used to be like, ‘Do you wish a chair?’ And she or he’s like, ‘No, I’m good.’ I’m like, ‘Good. I don’t have one other chair.’ It’s like, welcome to nothing!”

“Beauty to me is just your true essence,” she adds. “It’s your aura. It’s the way you present yourself, it’s how you are feeling, it’s the way you act. Beauty, really, means I can meet someone in a room and, just by their energy, [I can] understand if I’m going to embrace them into my life or simply speak to them. Do you realize what I mean? I feel that beauty is energy.”

After all, Taymour’s recognisable personal style at all times plays a hand in the intense beauty seen at her runway shows, too. “I feel I’m at all times attempting to push, push, push, push, push for as creative as we will go,” she says. “After which I wish to take it away afterwards, if that is smart. I’ll attempt to go as far deep as we will after which I’ll be like, OK, now take it off… It’s interesting since it needs to be dirty and it needs to be feminine. For me, my relationship with make-up is so different from most ladies. I’m Egyptian, so I wear a heavy eye and nothing on my face. I hate even a tinted lip gloss. I’d die if someone put a tinted lip gloss on me. You realize what I mean? So I’m very specific in my needs for make-up and I feel that translates within the shows.”

One thing you’ll never see as a Collina Strada beauty look? A red lip. “I understand the empowerment behind a red lip, however it’s just not me,” she says. “A red lip, I feel, is the simplest thing a girl can do to drag an outfit together. I feel like I never take the straightforward route.”

Join Dazed Club and be a part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, in addition to a free subscription to Dazed for a 12 months. Join for £5/month today.