At Luar Spring 2027, a Muddled Meeting of Two Christophers

Not many designers could convince NYFW showgoers to trek to deep Queens — specifically, Corona, which is an hour-long train ride from Manhattan — for a fashion show. So it’s impressive that Luar got more than 200 guests to make the long journey for its Spring 2027 show.

Upon arriving at the Queens Museum, the show’s venue, guests walked into a massive park where the Unisphere — a 350-ton, 120-foot-diameter globe — stood center stage. Given the inspiration, it was a fitting show location: This season, designer Raul Lopez was inspired by Christopher Street and Christopher Columbus (hence the globe).

“[This collection] moves between two Christophers,” the show notes read. “One is Christopher Street, where I came of age in New York. A street of collision: nightlife and loneliness, queer lineage and street survival, early-2000s code of masculinity, excess and reinvention…The other is Christopher Columbus, not as myth, but as fracture. Christopher Columbus’ voyages represent a global act of naming and claiming, of rewriting lands, bodies and origins through imposed language.” The fall lineup aims to explore the tension between those two legacies: “the street and the empire,” the notes continued.

An hour and five minutes after the show’s scheduled start time, the first few looks made their way down the runway. The collection’s opening pieces comprise neutral-colored tailoring with touches of 15th- and 16th-century fashion, such as bloomers, ruffle hems and feathered hats. Then, the lineup gets more contemporary, using brighter colors, bolder prints and unconventional shapes.

“What happens when early-modern garments meet early-2000s New York streetwear logic?” the show notes ask. “What happens when identity refuses to stay inside the borders it was assigned?” The answer, based off of Luar’s offering, is a bit unclear and muddled. (Given that Lopez also declined an interview with Fashionista, there was little opportunity to delve beyond what the show notes provided.)

Even with the meandering explanation in the show notes, the collection as a whole left me confused about the designer’s message. Are the clothes attempting commentary on a rejection of colonialism in favor of self-actualization? On the one hand, it seemed Lopez’s intention was for the theme to be about reclamation, or “a refusal to be singular,” as the show notes stated. But on the other, the collection is also supposed to be about “living between codes: fashion and street, luxury and survival, visibility and erasure. So, are we breaking away from these codes or simply adapting to them?

While the collection is beautifully constructed (great gowns, beautiful gowns), the messaging could use a little work.

Ahead, see every look from Luar’s Spring 2027 collection.