Renee Cafaro Atelier has been providing plus-size women with main character moments on her runway for years. This year she is helping them get ready for one of their biggest moments, their wedding day. The designer used her New York Fashion Week presentation to debut her bridal collection “Something Borrowed” alongside selections from her “Alchemy” line this season.
She showed at the Stanley H. Kaplan penthouse at Lincoln Center. Light flooded through the penthouse windows as models emerged wearing sequined triangle tops and embroidered maxi dresses. Her runway show celebrated art, culture, and romance.
It took the audience from the beach club where you lock eyes with a potential lover to a flirty date night number, to the orchestra date where you might celebrate an anniversary, and finally to the moment that your love gets cemented at the top of the aisle.
Alchemy models moved through the space barefoot in a nod to the natural elements their looks called forward.
A Romantic Intermission
Everything about the show was intentional, including the venue. What better place to go full gush than the place Aleksander Petrovsky dipped Carrie Bradshaw in front of the fountain where many a New York proposal has occurred?
Cafaro treated guests to a performance from a violinist who marked the transition from one collection to another with a series of musical selections. The tone of the music moved from classical to quippy. The violinist eased into Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” just before the first bridal look emerged.
It spoke to the magic of places like Lincoln Center where artistry existed before algorithms.
There was much-needed variety in Cafaro’s debut bridal offerings. Bridal style should not be uniform.
The traditional, whimsical, and the offbeat were all represented. Every moment of matrimony was considered. Cafaro collection featured a smart suit with an asymmetrical neckline, unexpected button choices, and glittering buckles. It was a fitting wink to the popularity of romanticizing the civil ceremony millennial and Gen-Z brides have brought to matrimony.
There was a satin bias dress that would fit a shoeless bride on a Jamaican beach, a mini dress with a lace crystal overlay perfect for the afterparty that pops off after the grandparents pass out, and a simple strapless number with the perfect bit of shine at the neckline.
There was a bejeweled halter that took the adornment all the way to every crevice of the clasp. Another gown featured a solo floating sleeve, echoing a number from “Alchemy.”
Flashes of black and an exaggerated bow took updated another look.
She didn’t abandon her signature boldness or commitment to sustainability. She tailored it. One bride even wore a pair of bedazzled jeans perfect for a pre-nuptial getaway.
The Bride Reimagined
Contemporary markets have separated bridal presentation from mainstream runways. That might be an outdated approach.
The bride has been the center of fashion shows for generations. Kimora Lee Simmons broke barriers as the youngest bride to ever close a Chanel show when she was just 13 years old.
Liris Crosse, the first plus-size model to walk the prestigious Barcelona bridal fashion week, was the bride at this show. She walked the runway in a floor-length gown and frosted lids. She wasn’t alone.
Cafaro broke barriers by choosing to portray several different type of brides. There were different heights and body types, reminding the world that love looks different for everyone. Vintage jewelry and reclaimed materials accentuated their unique beauty.
A Show Of Full Figured Force
The front row of Cafaro’s show was filled with some of the most prominent and consistent names supporting plus-size fashion, including famed celebrity stylist Susan Moses and the Gilded Age star Ashlie Atkinson.
Cafaro ended the show’s final walk grasping hands with plus-size model supermodel Emme and Crosse. Their different types of beauty standing in contrast to a season where larger bodies seem to slipping away was the most romantic moment of all.