Gabriela Hearst Presents a Quiet, Surrealist-Inspired Collection

In Gabriela Hearst’s fall/winter 2024 collection, things are not what they seem. Meaning, crochet lace is actually delicately soft cashmere, chunky furs are knitted by hand, and slip dresses come in corseted leather.

While creating it, the designer was thinking of the visionary surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, and all her dreamscape paintings with imaginative figures from ancient and new worlds. Think: majestically strange scenery starring hybrid birds, horses, and humans. “I fell into Leonora in a very serendipitous way,” she tells ELLE.com backstage moments before the show, which was once again held in an industrial warehouse space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. “She has all the characteristics of the women I am inspired by.” Hearst was given Carrington’s tarot book and started to research the artist’s life shortly after. “She was not only an incredible artist, but also so dedicated to her own vision,” she adds. “She never talked to the press—the only time she would speak out was when it came to environmental issues in the ’70s and the women’s movement. She used her voice very specifically.” Carrington was, after all, a founding member of the women’s liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.

In some ways, a link could be made to Hearst herself, a designer who deeply values speaking out and making fashion that values sustainability. The Uruguay-born creative has stood by that mission since she launched her namesake label in 2015. And when she joined Chloé in 2020 as creative director, she upheld it. In 2021, the French house announced it was the first in the luxury fashion realm to obtain B Corp certification under her leadership. This latest collection featured recycled gold, platinum and silver jewelry, and cashmere hand knitted by artisans in Bolivia.

Still, Hearst’s latest is her first collection for her own brand since stepping down as creative director of Chloé. (Her final collection for the house was presented last season.) And with that, it was clear that she wanted to flex her muscles and do what she does best: reappropriate textiles. “You’ll see a lot of these cashmere and furry things that look like something, but they’re not,” Hearst says. What appears to be denim is actually recycled cotton with linen. Corduroy, cashmere, fisherman knits, and wool combine to look quilted. Brilliant gold leather corset and bustier dresses closed the assortment, while lush cashmere chubby coats and dresses dominated the runway. Corduroy suits, wool capes, and delicate slip dresses remained the fan favorites the brand has become so beloved for.

It’s not the kind of bold, bright surrealism you’d see in Carrington’s work, but it’s instead about the concept of taking something familiar and turning it into something new. “It’s just playing with the idea of something,” Hearst says. “Pulling from the paintings and also keeping the red, using it appropriately.” To that end, the runway itself was coated in deep scarlet, and one of the most impactful looks came courtesy of a big red coat constructed out of yarn, which resembled supple shearling. In tandem with the theme of misleading signals, a whimsical food spread of colorful jellos, pear tartlets, and candied fruits was ready for guests upon entering—large balls of what appeared to be cream cheese covered in strawberries was, in fact, ice cream. (In a New York City snowstorm, no less!)

With all that’s been going on in the world, designers have focused on creating collections that feel like they offer up a form of protection. Hearst’s range was no exception to that trend: “I find it appropriate that this surrealism movement started after the atrocities of World War I,” she said. “We still live with such conflict in certain areas of the world today. I think surrealism helps us digest and process the traumas that are still happening.” Almost 100 years later, the original surrealists would probably find Hearst’s work meaningful. Also, merging the worlds of quiet luxury and surrealism has never looked so good.

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