Ulla Johnson didn’t seem like the designer most likely to drop a reference to Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble backstage this season, but that’s precisely where her inspiration began. “You know, I was a women’s-studies major in college,” she explained after her show at the Powerhouse Arts space in Brooklyn. “In the book she talks about how everything is a performance, gender is a performance. Everything here was a performance,” she added, gesturing to the area where the show had just taken place. “We were also really thinking about subverting femininity.”
The best example of her gender play came from the groovy pinstripe fabric with stripes showing pressure points, as if someone had started drawing them but stopped and hesitated. They made for a handsome single-breasted jacket worn with high-waist flat-front pants (naturally worn with nothing underneath). Black velvet was opulently embroidered with white sequins in a slight floral pattern that also seemed like it was slowly unraveling—it was used on a slim, midi-length pencil skirt with an asymmetrical slit and on a long dress with a high crewneck and fitted long sleeves to great effect. A simple long-sleeve top and matching skirt set was maximized by a frenetic collaged paisley print in shades of yellow, neon orange, ochre, and black.
A high point in the collection was the collaboration with K-Way performancewear, which included a poncho, a jumpsuit, and a super-cool midi-length skirt that zipped up the front, all made from Johnson’s signature blurred floral print in K-Way’s technical nylon. Johnson loves the outdoors, so for her they filled a necessity (“It’s all usually black!” she quipped), but they just seemed like essential pieces in anyone’s wardrobe, even if they never leave the city.
There were some electrifying pieces made from boiled wool: simple shift dresses with ever-so-slightly voluminous skirts in insanely vibrant shades of orchid purple and marigold yellow—the latter styled with two matching sweaters, one worn underneath the dress and another tied around the neck like a scarf. Last minute, Johnson also decided to add some male models to the lineup. “You see women on men’s runways all the time, but you never see men on women’s runways,” she observed. “Why is that taboo?” The looks they wore were some of the strongest in the collection, and they really highlighted Johnson’s gift for color and silhouettes. They included a semisheer purple turtleneck worn underneath a matching V-neck cardigan, bottle green wide leather pants, and an ochre yellow boiled-wool overcoat. There was also a purple turtleneck in boiled wool worn with shiny terracotta leather pants and a peach boiled-wool overcoat. The male models were “part of the exploration of slouchy, boyish cuts as part of the season’s conversation on the boundaries of womenswear and menswear,” said Johnson—meaning they wore women’s clothes and looked damn great.
