With its title inspired by the Mid-19th Century art movement that began in the Hudson River Valley in New York City, Hudson River School is the latest collection by American designer Conner Ives.
“The namesake becomes the landscape that this season’s characters were created in,” Ives writes in the collection’s accompanying show notes. “This year, I carried on with that practise I began last year. Each look begins as defining an archetype; Women and girls I came across or was inspired by growing up in Upstate New York.”
As well as taking style inspiration from some of the Big Apple’s most fashion-forward residents, Conner also pays homage to a selection of pop culture’s most influential characters, including Jackie O and Anna Wintour, as well as some of Y2K’s standout pop movie and reality show actors.
Conner Ives: ‘Hudson River School AW22’
Reflecting on what the collection means, and how the reverberation of his designs have helped to silence the voices of doubt in his mind, the Central Saint Martins alum told audiences ahead of the capsules launch during London Fashion Week: “Passion, when I was at school, was almost described as a dirty word. Tutors would dissuade us from talking about any passion towards fashion; I guess for how trite it sounded,” added Ives. “But it always bothered me that I was lead to believe that passion was seen as something compromising. I often observe a lack of emotion in modern design; maybe because like me, we all fear a certain exclamation of passion.”
“I made all these clothes with my friends; a dedicated team of young artisans that care as deeply about what they do as I do. If I’m remembered for anything; let it be for passion.”
Check out some of our favourite looks from the Hudson River School collection below:
