Ulla Johnson went in a more arty direction for spring 2024, collaborating with Brooklyn painter Shara Hughes on fantastic dresses and soft tailoring in three different color-soaked Surrealist landscapes.
She showed her collection Sunday morning at Powerhouse Arts, the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit powerhouse that was abandoned for years before being transformed into an art studio and exhibition space that opened in July. And she set the stage, or rather the floor, with an installation of her own, with circular sand paintings on the open runway.
“Fine arts have always been a huge inspiration for me, and Shara has a way of treating color and landscape in this psychedelic, distorted nature,” Johnson said of the artist, who just unveiled a show Saturday at David Kordansky Gallery in L.A., where the designer opened an impressive new Kelly Wearstler-designed flagship last month.
Johnson has been getting a lot of requests from customers for more eveningwear, and she delivered it on the runway with frothy ruffled organza dresses in marbled chevron patterns or watercolor florals trailing unraveling garlands; bias-cut lace and silk charmeuse and slipdresses, and a pink Lurex jacquard volume gala gown.
Slouchy zebra-stripe silk charmeuse pants, prism-embroidered raffia fringe tanks, featherweight ruffled knits, denim and poplin pieces in gorgeous colors reflected a more sporty separates-driven mood.
What resulted was a strong collection that felt easy and elevated. Less Bali and more arty eclectic, with a focus on sculptural shapes and volumes, it should further open up Johnson’s business to luxury customers who already shop Dries Van Noten, Marni and Missoni.