“She gave me access to her closet in a way, her atelier. I walked in and I chose the dresses I most connected with,” says makeup artist Alice Lane, standing before a rack of confectionary Batsheva dresses and separates. “I really like this one,” she gestures towards a buttercup yellow dress with a ruffled collar. “And this makes me feel really good. Almost like Jessica Lange went to French clown school,” Lane says of a coordinating plaid shirt and pants. “And this one's really me. It's beautiful and it has crinoline.” The red-haired makeup artist articulates all of this in a nude slip. She then selects a matching floral button down and pants and gets dressed.
“We named the collection ‘The Self in a New Dress’ because it's an identity thing. We're always performing, putting on our clothes,” says eponymous designer Batsheva Hay, who has made a name for herself with a modern collection of ultra feminine dresses. “Every time you get dressed, it's a new opportunity. You're kind of reinventing yourself.” Hay is not one to embrace the traditional fashion show format, often favoring venues like a midtown diner and dressing friends in lieu of models, but this time she even nixed the runway aspect. Instead, Hay presented her Fall ‘23 collection at Bortolami gallery in SoHo. Her “models” were a collection of friends and tastemakers she’s long admired (Lane she reached out to via instagram DM.) Other subjects included producer and couture lover Jordan Roth, and visual artist and performer Kembra Pfahler, and content creator Mina Le, all of whom possess an undeniably distinct sense of style.
Alice Lane in Batsheva;
Photo: Alexei Hay; Courtesy of Batsheva
Spring '23 was more about glamour, excitement. This season, the designer focused on wearability. Ahead of the show, Hay allowed each cast member to select the items from the collection that spoke most to them. Each fashioned themselves a “wardrobe” for the day. “The whole point is to not force anyone to wear something,” says Hay, “because it's supposed to be something that they genuinely respond to.” For Pfahler, that entailed items like a black velvet gown with a Victorian lace collar or a silver Vivienne-Westwood-like top, draped ball skirt, and flower-shaped headdress.
“Strong, confident, glamorous!” Pfahler scrawls in Sharpie upon blank white Batsheva dresses hanging in the center of the room. She stands dressed in the aforementioned silver get-up. Other participants join her, casting their sentiments upon this sartorial blank canvas. “I feel like a princess,” one quote reads, with tiny hearts outlining the words. “Daring darling,” reads another.
Model May Anderson strolls about in a teal moire set, beneath which she dons black and white check mary janes with a block heel and a pair of white socks. “I found these shoes in Tbilisi, Georgia,” Anderson explains. “They're some small brand.” She sports deep purple lipstick and dark eyeshadow, her short hair and bangs slicked back. "My mood at the moment is very silent spectacle," she explains. "Emo season for me."
Kembra Pfahler in Batsheva;
Photos: Alexei Hay; Courtesy of Batsheva
May Anderson in Batsheva.
Jordan Roth in Batsheva.
“It always felt weird to dictate to people how they should look,” Hay explains. “I have no styling in this collection, which is crazy because I love my stylists.” Instead, everyone in the show styled themselves. “For example, Kembra Pfahler, who was in my last show, is such a goth queen, but apparently she loves floral prairie dresses too,” Hay recounts. “But she wears them in her own way. I get something from her whole style and aesthetic and energy as she tries something of mine—but it's what she picks.”
Pfahler retained her signature hair and makeup look of red lips and uber dramatic black eyeliner in her metallic ensemble. “I don't think I could work any other way,” she states, matter-of-factly. “And I think that's very risky to allow people to bring parts of themselves into [the equation]. It's a nice collaboration.”