Who is bigger than Beyoncé? Last season, the usually private star made a rare public appearance at Luar’s AW24 show, cheering on her model nephew Julez Smith from the front row, and sending the streets of New York into a bit of a frenzy afterwards. Though her appearance was news to designer Raul Lopez, who only found out she was there after the show, the bar had already been set astronomically high, and – whether you like it or not – only one woman in the world could match that kind of star power for SS25.
Just like Beyoncé’s entrance last season, a flurry of craned necks and brandished iPhones greeted Madonna as she made her way into the Rockefeller Plaza showspace. Accompanied by a couple of devoted assistants, the grand dame of pop music was, unsurprisingly, kitted out in Luar: a camel coat-cum-dress with two gargantuan shoulder pads, some long latex gloves one might use for bovine insemination, and the label’s instantly recognisable Ana bag. In a move that might surprise some, Madge wasn’t actually the last guest to arrive at her seat – that honour was given to Ice Spice, who settled down in the chair next to her soon after. Very brave of Ice to turn up after the actual Madonna, but maybe she got caught in traffic or something!
Joining those two in the thronging crowd was Amanda Lepore, Hari Nef, Tinashe, Doechii, Shygirl, Honey Balenciaga and the rest of New York’s fashion crowd, who were all shocked out of their seats when music began to blast from two cars flanking the runway. Both vehicles were stacked with multiple speakers known as chucheros, a common sight in the Dominican Republic where Lopez’s family comes from. The show itself was inspired by the designer’s upbringing in New York, splitting time between family in Brooklyn and friends on the Lower East Side. “I was all teen angst and trying to figure out who I was, hanging out with the punk girls, the crazy girls, and the art girls downtown but I was still dressing like my family wanted to,” he told Vogue before the show. “I needed to have a skinny pant to hang with the girls, but then I could wear a button up to be with my family.”
On the runway, Lopez’s dynamic silhouettes were on full display, but with a sharper, more punk edge than usual. Alex Consani opened the show in a spiralised corset and sheer black stockings with pants on top, imperious block brows painted above her real ones. A sizable offering of 54 looks, Lopez’s show covered everything from logo-emblazoned twin sets and cut out booty shorts, to white button downs and hooded creations straight out of Star Wars. A New York collection through and through, elsewhere we saw crystalised durags and satin bomber jackets, It-girl sunglasses and leopard print boots, plus some faux-croc leather, slashed apart and buttoned back together again. And with star turns on the runway from Paloma Elsesser, Beyoncé’s nephew Julez and Offset, it was a particularly memorable offering from our favourite NYFW closer.
Scroll through the gallery above to see all of the looks.