The lights went down at Starrett-Lehigh for the Batsheva show and a quintet began playing classical music. Out came Lori Belilove, the founder and artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation & Company—and a woman of a certain age—wearing a rectangular-shaped black velvet V-neck sack dress with a slit at the leg and silver embroidery on the neckline. She danced with alternating restraint and abandon, slowly making her way down the runway, setting the tone for what would follow: some joy, a bit of whimsy, and a whole show full of women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.
The show opened with Molly Ringwald—now a swan, formerly everyone’s dream teenage girl—in a black velvet shift dress and a short hooded cape, her hands held in front of her inside a lace trim muff. (“Because why not?” said Hay.) Then came Amy Fine Collins in another black velvet shift with a scoop neck and lace trim, a bit like a French maid uniform, but on Fine Collins it was somehow the chicest little dress (with a wink). A third black velvet dress, this time with the signature Batsheva silhouette stuffed with tulle underneath for volume, was worn by another older woman with long white hair. Though Hay said she was simply wanted to see women like herself on the runway, the effect it had on her clothes was remarkable—not just because of the diversity of their body types but because of the way they carried themselves; the lives they brought to her dresses. It was especially interesting, given that Hay broke onto the scene with little girl-inspired dresses.
Highlights from the collection included a leopard-print swing coat with black trim detail on the neckline, sleeves, and across the chest; a slinky jersey dress fitted on the body with an A-line skirt and oversize white button embellishment; a great vibrant ultramarine purple skirt suit whose jacket had oversize sleeves, white piping details, and a tie at the waist; and another skirt suit with a double-breasted jacket, this time done in all over reversible sequins, which flipped from white to silver and had a glamorous yet punk effect, like paint peeling off a wall. Many of the looks were worn with polka-dotted little platform Keds, part of a collaboration. The sequins, Hay explained, would be immediately familiar to anyone who has children. “It’s on everything,” she said at a studio preview, a comment which a models who was there for a fitting with her 10-year-old daughter quickly co-signed.
Though the piece that is destined to become the IYKYK item from the collection is the intarsia knitted sweater with the word HAG emblazoned on the chest, modeled by one of New York’s OG cool female designers Victoria Bartlett. Although many models were friends of Hay, a good number were also street cast and on at least one occasion the designer and her team checked out dance classes. “When I stopped people, the one reaction they all had was like, ‘Why would you ever want me?’, so that actually made it more exciting. Like they don’t even feel visible.” Now we just need the rest of the industry to catch on.
