Instead of a runway show, Batsheva Hay decided to have people over for brunch at Jean’s on Lafayette. The restaurant was buzzing like on any other Sunday, with Oasis blasting through the speakers and guests crowding tables having a drink with their yogurt or salmon. A diverse mix of models, friends, New York It-girls—and even the actual Miss America—were wearing the designer’s spring collection, mingling with the crowd, and easily identified thanks to black and white polka-dotted pointy long nails, and a caricature-esque beauty mark—a polka dot gone rogue!—on their faces. They all looked like they were wearing their own clothes, meaning their ease was unstudied: no primping, no posing, just a bunch of women in a room having a great time.
On the menu? Lots of printed floral cotton. “It is my favorite fabric in the world,” Hay explained. She cut blouses and skirts close to the body and off the shoulder for a dose of romanticism and lushness that was a novel addition to her oeuvre. She made it into fitted little blouses, skirts, and day dresses that stood in contrast to her other current favorite thing, the square tunic, which this season was short and trimmed in colorful feathers. Many of the pieces are already available for sale on her website. “Everything is seasonless,” she said. “It’s kind of pretending at this point, the idea that everyone in the fashion industry can conform to the same system. I’m just embracing my way of doing things, and doing things on my own.” She added, “This is really me with no doubts about myself.”
