Last year Lori Belilove, founder and artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, opened Batsheva Hay’s fantastic fall 2024 runway show featuring a strong case of age 40-plus women.
Since then, Hay has shown her latest collections in ways that tie closely with her community. For spring, she held an unofficial block party outside of her newly opened boutique and cast customers as models; this season, she dressed Belilove and her dancers for their performance Sunday night.
“Working with these dancers is very cool. It’s not a fashion week event, but their performance. It’s helping me to dress them and understand who they are, how they move, and now I want to go to her dance classes,” Hay said.
Her fall collection was inspired by the dancers’ need to easily move in the clothes, as seen through ample new side-slit, roomy tunics; one-sleeved draped tops, and exaggerated babydoll dresses. The designer said it also led her to explore new drapey fabrics, including silk crepe, outside of her signature “stiffer” ones that create the brand’s well-known puff sleeves.
While a few ruffled, sexy lace and sequined looks crafted in vintage fabrics exhibited the brand’s signature ethos, the collection leaned more into ease with roomy silhouettes, with ample joy. This aspect nodded directly to dancer Isadora Duncan, whom Hay was inspired by for her rejection of the “uptight Victorian ways.”
“I started my whole brand based on Victorian dressing and I’m now at a point in my personal style where I’m a little bit rejecting the Victorian aesthetic. For me, it felt so exciting to play around with it in the beginning — it felt fun and punk to wear tight little constricted things, and now I’m kind of over it,” Hay said of the collection’s emphasis on easy house dresses and less constricting styles.
“Another thing that’s cool about Isadora Duncan is that in her time, ballet was insular. It was kind of a harsh and strict little bubble, but she saw herself as part of the world, not just part of the dance world. That feels very kindred spirit to me where the fashion world feels very insular, especially not really being from it. I always want to be a part of other worlds and be influenced by other worlds, including dance,” Hay said.
