By Patricia Ann Parenti
Chuks Collins showed his collection on Sunday, September 12, 2021 as a presentation at The Sunken Living Room at Spring Studios during New York Fashion Week. As you can see in the photos everyone sat on the top rows of the area while the models cascaded in the Sunken area of the red carpeted room. After the models walked and twirled for the cameras, they all lined up against the wall so you could still see the clothes.
Chuks Collines is a fashion designer and a multi-disciplinary visual artist who uses creativity to tell his story. He was raised in England and Nigeria. In one of the photos, you can see references to African prints being used in shorts and a shirt for a man; and a short straight skirt over a red asymmetrical skirt for a woman. As a child in Nigeria, his grandmother taught him tailoring. This shows in this collection because every garment was custom made in the Bronx, NY just to fit the model. Expand the photos and you can see true craftmanship in every piece of clothing. American Made Couture is what this collection is all about.
The inspiration for his Couture Collection was from him taking photos of cocoons and studying the resurrection process of the butterfly. His other inspiration came from muscular bodies of people. After taking all these photos he pinned them to what we call a mood board in the fashion industry where he was able to look at the board daily for inspiration on designing.
I love his use of jewel and bright colors ranging from tones of yellows, royal blues, wine reds, browns. His fabrics were soft and flowing and African inspired prints with cocoons. He does lots of fabric manipulation that includes pleating, boning, corset style tops, tailoring and structured shoulders (which make women feel strong and powerful) and beading. Since it was a presentation, I was able to get up close to the models after it was over to view the garments. What I noticed is many of the gown’s fabrics had a sheen to them which will make them stand out at a gala or black-tie affair. Some of the other dresses had pleated fabric made into ruffles at the skirt that would be perfect for dancing because they moved when the wearer of the dress danced.
He creates flattering gowns and dresses for both regular sizes and plus sizes. His fashions are very feminine and lady like and will make any woman stand out in the room. His collection definitely empowers women and makes them feel and look like a Queen! This is the perfect collection to wear to make women feel good again after 18 months of wearing casual clothes due to the Pandemic. To find out more about Chuks Collins, his clothing collection or to have something custom made for you then go to WWW.CHUKSCOLLINS.COM