Christian Cowan doesn’t need an excuse to go big. The British designer already has devoted celebrity fans, including musicians like Saweetie and drag superstars like Aquaria, both of whom sat in his front row today. Also, he’s never not pulled out all the stops for his party clothes. But the impetus for spring 2022’s extraness was, in part, for Cowan to thumb his nose at people who thought New York nightlife might be over post-2020. “I just wanted it to be a bunch of different women heading to the same party,” he says, adding that he had encouraged the models to really ham it up while on the catwalk ’90s style.
And they did! Teddy Quinlivan, clad in a lavender-and-black checked miniskirt and matching cropped jacket, sat in the front row briefly while walking down the runway. Others tossed their hair, twirled, and a few even took their shoes off, like an exhausted partygoer heading home at 3 a.m. Name a lavish texture or trope, and it was likely represented somewhere in the collection. There were pink marabou feather balaclavas; bedazzled scarf tops; sheer, sparkly maxi dresses; necklines down to there; hemlines up to here. One standout was a silver mini dress with a deep U-shaped neckline and an attached hood—a little Grace Jones.
Could it have been streamlined? Sure, but going to a Christian Cowan show and expecting restraint is like going to church for tequila shots. This was best evidenced in the final dress, worn by Winnie Harlow. A midi, off-the-shoulder, skintight white dress, it featured a whittled waist, oversize rhinestones, a leg slit up to the hip, and, most fancifully, feathers cascading down from the shoulders like white streamers, as well as a veil. At once she was an angel, a bride, and an agent of chaos. Sounds like a party.
