02/27/2026
This photo was taken from my 2016 show for Fall 2017. I showed covered faces, masks, and concealment — but it wasn’t just aesthetic.
As designers, we’re called not only to sell, sell, sell — but to filter the zeitgeist and distill culture. At our best, we act as oracles of where style and society are headed. We study how we live and what we believe people will need.
In 2017, I believed we were heading toward unrest and division. These weren’t just clothes meant to hide — they were designed as protest gear. Pieces meant to be worn in the streets, in moments of resistance, in a climate I felt was coming.
I believed that future was arriving — and it did, in ways I could have never imagined. People marching. Cars and buildings ablaze.
Here we are again. But now it’s federal agents and ICE officers concealing their identities from the American people. When both citizens and the government feel the need to hide from each other — even though we are all Americans — it signals a breakdown of trust.
On a lighter note, the hardest part of that show was convincing beautiful male models to cover their faces. 😅
