The Night Comes Before the Morning at Elena Velez

Her yr009 collection, shown in New York City's Financial District late on September 12, was titled Smite, conjuring visions of divine punishment. Her show notes describe a church militant, an "army of angels, martyrs, and crusaders," and "religious mortification, psychological weaponry, technologies of destruction." Indeed, these seem to be the three pillars of discourse as of late, between genocidal AI and postpartum psychosis and traditionalist hysteria. No one knows who to trust anymore. Her models are carefully selected toward this end. John Kiriakou , former CIA officer, author, and whistleblower who in 2007 exposed the agency's use of torture during the war on terror, walks with a book on the Watergate scandal tucked under his arm. The Russian couple Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, who scaled the Empire State Building, walk the runway together, almost as if in an Orthodox wedding ceremony. He wears a crown and she wears a silver mesh falconry veil. Kirikaou seems to juxtapose Nikolau and Beerkus perfectly. The popularity of conspiracy theory and the desperation for new information divert a natural, virile energy that could be otherwise devoted to righteous anger or to physical risk or even to love. The fact that the vocals to the soundtrack were done by Pariah the Doll (who also walked), a self-professed "Eunuch for the kingdom of God," gave a subtle nod to the depths of devotion and mortification that only a lover can attain. The collection seems to be carefully edited down to the essential house codes—corsetry, workwear, leather and steel, ruching, soiled and ripped fabric—in order to emphasize the introduction of menswear. And yet again, I reflect that the line of men's clothing has been chosen for this season to fit the title and the inspiration: a changing of the guard, and the wars that destroy lives in other parts of the world and minds in ours. While upon first glance her clothing resists a simple transfer to your wardrobe, there is a lot of inspiration to take away. Standout looks included the almost shocking texture change in the ruffled blouse on Look 21, and the perfect tailored shape of the silk top in Look 23. I was eyeing the leather purse carried by several of the models, and the shoulders on the jacket in Look 2. Velez collaborated with chainmail artist Frances O for the striking headpieces worn throughout that made me want to finally click purchase on the falconry accessories I've had saved in the backwaters of my Etsy account for a few years. It would be remiss to discuss this collection without mentioning the direct references to Alexander McQueen's 1996 Dante collection. The crosses and crucifixes on the headpieces were sometimes almost exact reproductions of Philip Treacy's for McQueen. McQueen similarly was exploring themes of holy war and divine punishment in that collection. He was inspired by Dante's vision of heaven and hell, and how the unexpected people we find there defy a flawed human understanding of justice. It was also impossible to miss the Dune inspiration, especially as the collection transitioned from the forests and the mines in looks 1–17 to the deserts of the Arabian peninsula in looks 18–28. Maybe a bit overplayed in pop culture recently, if only because of the newly released movie adaptation, Dune is uncannily descriptive of our time yet widely loved in a way that other disturbingly prophetic books (like The Camp of the Saints ) are not. And indeed, Velez's work is disturbing. The clothes are waxy and macabre, the men are padded and armored, the women are veiled and yet exposed. Sheer stockings are paired with CAT workboots, fabric treated for the elements is turned into garments that are usually associated with delicate femininity. These are the peasants of the apocalypse. In a time of religious turmoil, Velez is using her artistic medium to pose the challenge: after we have been crushed, how do we form unlikely alliances to build a new future? The collection proposes that the solution may mean leaving behind what is sweet and homely for a time in order to ultimately reclaim it.