Tommy Dorfman talks Collina Strada’s empowered ethos at NYFW show

Collina Strada has always been size-inclusive, and this season the shortest model on the runway was a mere 27.5 inches tall.

Clad in a turquoise Collina onesie and matching hat with rhinestone ears, the adorable Miss Florence was carried down the catwalk by her mother, fashion designer and painter Karolina Liebers.

Backstage after the show, her father David said his baby girl is five and a half months old, doesn’t have any teeth yet and often wears a very cool pair of Collina rhinestone jeans over her diapers. 

Some designers preach diversity but don’t practice it, apart from using a few token models.

Collina founder and creative director Hillary Taymour is different.

Every season, she casts models who reflect the public.

This time around, her beauties included a pregnant woman with her belly bared and 72-year-old power strutter Rustee McCain Engman, a Collina runway veteran and mother of the brand’s longtime collaborator Charlie Engman.

“13 Reasons Why” star Tommy Dorfman, who attended the show along with Ivy Getty and Gina Gershon, praised Taymour’s models and message.

“It’s not just diverse, it’s accurate. It’s just is the world that we live in, and she doesn’t shy away from that and she makes clothes for human beings. It made me feel strong and empowered and cool.”

Named “Stronger” and set to the Britney Spears anthem of the same name, the colorful fall 2024 collection featured what the house calls “elegantly beefed-up silhouettes” made of dead-stock fabrics and classic Uggs made of sustainable corn leather. “Welcome to Collina’s Gym where your inner feminine power takes outer chiseled form,” said the program.

Transgender model and social justice advocate Aaron Rose Philip walked the runway in a wheelchair, one of her many outings for the label.

“This is a brand of my heart, honestly,” she said backstage. “They are so revolutionary, they are so creative. They are a brand that champions true inclusivity and diversity, something that other brands don’t seem to take seriously. But Collina Strada does, and that’s why they’re a standout in New York.”