For his spring 2025 New York Fashion Week show, Bad Binch Tong Tong designer Terrence Zhou took the audience to church. For the unveiling of his latest collection, Zhou selected New York’s famous St. Bartholomew’s Church on Manhattan’s East Side for a show that was comparative parts runway and devised theatre.
As guests were ushered into the church as if it was midnight mass, once they were seated, the show began with two models walking down the church aisle dressed in black catsuits encased in sculptural gowns, one red and one black, reminiscent of tulips. The music was ritual-like with the undertones of percussion instruments and humming as Bad Binch Tong Tong began bringing spectators into their world.
What followed was a collection that has the sacred and the secular come together, a theme that presents much of Bad Binch Tong Tong’s designs. For the brand’s spring 2024 collection, fashion pundits described the collection as an alien fantasy meets high fashion, and that concept and aesthetic has been further expanded in the spring 2025 collection.
One look from the spring 2024 collection featured a pink breastplate, a sheer black skirt, and an architectural ring wrapped around it, reminiscent of Saturn’s rings. The Saturn ring motifs were seen throughout several other dresses in the collection. The choice of inspiration from Saturn’s ring was also not incidental, as his show was held on Sept. 7, marking Saturn’s return.
Zhou also gave his take on the little black dress, with a gown that appeared understated at the bodice with a sheer halter top but cascaded into an asymmetrical hem neo-futuristic-style hoop skirt, invoking a black hole. The designer said part of his inspiration for the show was sacred communion, hence his use of the church as a venue. He also wanted the models to have the ability to move through the church in silence as a testament to the space we create for each other. On that note, one of Bad Binch Tong Tong’s gowns featured a collar so oversized, that it would’ve been impossible for anyone to deny the wearer personal space.
There was a subtle theme of the difference between space and embracing Earth’s natural elements, as a floor-length gown with a train adorned with flowers contrasted against the neo-futuristic and planetary designs. The message was clear that there is fashion inspiration in our backyard and beyond the stars.
Images courtesy of Bad Binch Tong Tong
Connection, extraterrestrial inspiration, and the avant-garde marked this collection. What Zhou attempted to literally do and succeeded at was giving the audience a collection that was out of this world.
Kristopher Fraser
Esé Azénabor is no stranger to bridal consumers and fashion industry professionals. Whether you live in Dallas or you have visited her lovely bridal boutique in New York City, if you are in the bridal market, you recognize Esé Azénabor’s immense talent.
“It is with immense joy and humility that I present my first ready-to-wear and eveningwear collections at New York Fashion Week. This moment, while a personal dream fulfilled, is also a tribute to the remarkable women who have paved the way for me. Trailblazers like fashion icons Alva Chinn and Lana Ogilvie, and visionary journalists Harriette Cole and Constance White, whose work inspired me to dream bigger. I also owe so much to my clients—Jean Shafiroff, Patricia Silverstein, Tisha Collette, and Dr. Yana Delkhah—whose unwavering support has empowered me to reach this milestone. This collection celebrates your strength, spirit, and the profound impact you’ve had on my journey,” explained Esé Azénabor.
The outdoor event space on the rooftop of Rockefeller Center was the perfect venue for Esé Azénabor’s spring 2025 ready-to-wear collection. Similar to her bridal customer, Esé Azénabor seeks to dress that consumer that has deep pockets and is ready and willing to spend their dollars on garments that express their penchant for heavily embellished clothing in bold colors. While that aesthetic works well for her bridal customer, this ready-to-wear collection sometimes missed the mark with a mishmash of too many ideas.
Still, there were many garments that worked for the 2024 version of the ladies who lunch, who have a plethora of galas and events to attend. That said, Azénabor was most successful when she followed the less is more dictum and let her brilliant design aesthetic shine.
Every season Ines di Santo reminds fashion industry professionals why she is one of the fashion industry’s premier bridal designers. And di Santo’s craft was in full display at her bridal spring 2025 collection.
For her spring 2025 bridal collection di Santo was inspired by romanticism. And for di Santo this is romanticism from all angles, including romanticism as seen through the lens of modern technology.
Our fabric developments this season led us to adapt and push the limits of modern embroidery and laser cutting machines to create new layered fabrications, pairing them with both hand painted and hand beaded details, a level of craft and artisanship that can never be fully substituted by machines.
That said, with Ines di Santo there is always an incredible bridal journey. And this particular journey takes bridal consumers through every part of the bridal event and beyond. There were bridal party garments, bridal rehearsal garments, bridal ceremony garments, as well as bridal reception fare.
Ines di Santo always stays current with what modern brides want to wear. This collection includes the glitz and glam trend, the dropped waist trend, and high slit trend.
If you are now familiar with Mira Zwillinger’s bridal collections, you should be. Zwillinger’s bridal collections are thoughtful, well-constructed, with a mix of classic silhouettes and modern sensibilities.
Though this collection is a somewhat quiet and restrained compendium on the freedom that comes with self-love it is by no means less elegant and beautiful. The beauty in this spring 2025 bridal collection lies in the subtle details that Zwillinger has employed.
