Collina Strada is getting stronger… literally. Staging its AW24 ready-to-wear show at Hero at the Rockefeller Center yesterday afternoon, the New York label set out to bolster its firm belief that “femme is a flex.”

Always one of the most diverse shows, each season and across every city, models were pregnant or plus-sized, chiselled and athletic or differently-abled, young or old; one woman even cradled a baby. All of them sported Hillary Taymour’s interpretation of high-energy, boho-feminine gym-wear; some carried watermelon-barbell weights perpetrating the penchant for playfulness the brand is known for. “It’s about time we re-sculpted that meat-headed vision into something closer to the reality of femininity – something altogether sweatier yet more refined,” read the show notes, signalling the charming (and very pretty) burliness of the clothes that came out.

At Collina’s Gym, meshy florals were the uniform. These came ruched, rippling or flimsy. Elsewhere chocolate brown crushed velvet corsets – one with a matching pair of slouchy trousers and a luxe-looking flannel co-ord, also built around a bodacious corset. Elegant dresses had beefed up shoulders, as did the tops, and track pants were swole. Beneath looks, Collina’s gym brats wore classic Uggs made from corn leather, or Puma x Collina Strada Suede XL and Velophasis trainers from their upcoming AW24 collection.

Reproaching the notion that the “femme body and mind” has long been sculpted by the “imaginations of men”, especially when it comes to women or those that identify with the feminine body achieving positions of power, the New York label instead, celebrated the strength of it. Get ready to sweat.

Photography courtesy of Collina Strada.

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