September 14, 2022 |
Opening with an array of black jersey gowns fixed with contoured gold nappa on raw-edge vachetta leather, slithering open spaces that permeated silk ladder-stitch knit dresses and frocks printed with ionic greek-columns, Gabriela Hearst’s latest edit immediately felt very Athena, Goddess of wisdom and war – except it wasn’t, it was Sappho. Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet who not only composed nine books but also shed light on our incompatible relationship with the Earth as well as women’s hardships and sexual preferences, wielding her words like a culture-disrupting weapon way before it was cool.
So, as a mutual champion of women and environmentalism, Hearst sought Stanford University Professor of Art History, Emanuele Lugli, to conduct a private, Sappho–centred lecture: “You may not know it, but the Ancient Greek poet Sappho shaped what you desire. She is the one who convinced you that it is better to contemplate the motion of light on a lover’s face than to care for power,” Lugli began. “Her words changed the way people saw the world for she sung a different world, one that privileged self-knowledge, eros and the inexhaustible ecstasy of nature.”
On the runway, a diverse group of Heart’s friends were scattered amidst the models; from the former president of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards and climate activist Xiye Bastida, to anti-toxic shock syndrome advocate Lauren Wasser. Clearly it wasn’t just the subliminal messaging that elicited Hearst’s exploration of womanhood – from the clothes to the cast, she had female empowerment ingrained in each and every one of her delicate threads – and all with carbon emissions offset by Climeworks!
Photography courtesy of Gabriela Hearst.
