“It Was the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done In My Life”: Inside Collina Strada SS26
“It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and I'll never do it again,” Collina Strada founder Hillary Taymour says backstage at her Spring/Summer 2026 runway show. “Good luck to anyone who tries.”
Taymour’s SS26 presentation, a meditation on light and dark, was held on a pier on the southeast tip of Manhattan during golden hour. It was quite easy on the eyes; this was the light. The dark? A DJ creating a plunderphonics-style cacophony by mashing together infomercial clips, thudding house music, and for the finale, a choral rendition of Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” the earworm synonymous with Shrek.
But Collina Strada SS26 also offered a more literal take on light and dark. Models strode the makeshift runway in pairs, one clad in white — or, at least, Collina Strada’s vivacious take on lighter colors — and the other in all black, each set of twinned outfits an exploration of ruching, staining, pleating, sculpting, volume. Clad in their babydoll dresses and skirted denim cargo pants, models laced up Collina Strada’s collaborative Converse sneakers with tongues so long that they folded over on themselves.
“I [wanted] to make [the Chuck Taylor] more Gen Z, but also just fun and Collina,” Taymour says. “So, we added a bunch of our signature jewelry pieces onto it.” The sneakers, which will be released next summer, come with a keychain so that any charms that don’t end up on the shoes can be added to a bag or belt.
But making cute Converse is easy. Taymour could do that all day. Creating two nearly identical outfits for two models with different (but similar) bodies? Not so much.
“We cast a lot of our core humans, but then we had to match their height and physique, which was really tricky,” Taymour says. “Ultimately, [it was] super fruitful. Visually IMPACTFUL,” she beams, underscoring the word by belting it. Indeed, the effect was impressive, especially when the shadow closely followed its host in synchronized step. And especially when the duos applied makeup or vaped mid-stride. Was this a play on the deadly sins born of our shadows? Or simply a coping mechanism? The world might be on fire, but there’s still time to hit the Geek Bar.
Because this is Collina Strada, the presentation collapsed a kitchen-sink combo of “low” culture (Shrek songs) and brainier fare into a 30-minute mini-spectacle. The show notes quote Carl Jung on “making the darkness conscious,” grounding the collection in our “era of crisis” wherein we must confront not only our own shadows but “the shadows of others” to survive and perhaps even thrive.
This isn’t a warning, however, but a moment of literal reflection says Taymour, who is optimistic even when staring into the abyss. At their core, Collina Strada’s mirrored looks are a representation of “how our choices and our decisions will always impact our future, past and present,” she says. “We can be the light during times of darkness."
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