This article was published with Obscura Zine.
Spiderwebs, fairy wings, feathers and crucifixion were just a few of the sights to be seen at Bella Pietro’s latest NYFW FW25 runway show. Entitled “DIAGHILEV” in honor of the Ballet Russes creator, Sergei Diaghilev, the production was a multi-faceted masterpiece with many artists involved. 172 Norfolk St. was its on-theme, ambient canvas and intricate, bridal-ballet-infused garments were its paintbrushes.
The Angel Orensanz Center is home to too many runway shows and events to count (Art Hearts, Couture Fashion Week NYC, and Alexander McQueen’s first New York show, to name a few). But, not many have recognized the opportunity to utilize the venue as well as Bella, a designer, director, and overall magnetic pull for her creative community.
“Diaghilev is a perfect representation of the Bella Pietro world not as much visually as it is just in the way we do things and the way I view a Creative Director,” Pietro said. “The way all of the people working together just became family, there was a lot of politics at the time that they were escaping through their art, it’s a very layered thing. I just really see myself and the way I collaborate with others [similarly] and the dynamics we’ve gained through our art, now it’s like we’re our biggest support system.”
Upon first walking in, white sheer fabrics draped like gowns over six gold, worn-down chandeliers. Two towering twin goddesses, Alexis and Yasmeen Ratliff, graced both sides of the stage in coordinated white flowy fabrics and hoods, as if protecting the fashion temple that Bella built.
Glowing orange lights pulled like waves over the textiles, while brutalist music loudened and softened into audible sparkle, seamlessly while ballerina Georgia Duisenberg opened the show.
This is just a taste of the detail and intentions put into this production. From intricate hairstyles to create a faux “bearded lady” character to model Vienne Skye wearing a moving carousel headpiece, many hands came together to make magic on Feb. 15. Inspirations stemmed from a variety of sources such as vintage beads and trims, 1920s flapper styles, art deco, pastel hues, and of course the Ballet Russes.
“The hats involved a variety of time consuming and detailed processes, mainly experimental with classical millinery,” headwear designer Sideara St. Claire said. “Many of them involved techniques I’ve developed sculpting and laser cutting meticulously hand drawn shapes collaged and sourced from books from the 1800s and 1900s.”
When wandering through the backstage basement, tulle and other embellishments were scattered across every surface. Despite the typical chaos of back-house production, the energy was enlivened and tame at the same time – models (including internet divas like Anna Bloda, Too Poor, and ContraChloe to name a few) stood dressed and nearly ready for the runway, and makeup artists making minor adjustments to eyes and lips.
“I wanted to play into something a little more ghostly, something like dancers after a long night, like lived in and kinda worn-out,” lead Makeup Artist Nathan Gross said. “The first look we focused on messy mascara, rolled up and down the eyes to make it look like it was messily applied…kinda like a fucked up ballerina.”
The aforementioned opening look featured one of many online it-girls gracing the catwalk (@EmotionalGirlfriendX) adorned in bedazzled nipple covers, a chain bra with teardrop crystals and a 1920s art-deco headpiece.
Emerging backwards and bowing toward the wall away from the audience before walking the runway on hesitant tip-toes was surprising but full of meaning. Every model's walk played into not only the caricatures, but the lives those characters would have embodied, a world of art and survival.
Movement Director Ambrosia Morris explained that ballerinas of the Ballet Russes era were not just performers but also working women, breathing real sacrifice and life into the phrase, “The show must go on.”
“The opening moment was haunting…bowing to an imagined audience, before turning to face the real one, unaware that she had ever been watched. It was a metaphor for the performance of life itself, the tension between agency and expectation,” Morris said. “We wanted the models to move like ghosts, lingering spirits from the past haunting the space. The movement pulled from burlesque, ballet, mime, and the grand theatricality of early 20th-century showgirls.”
Personal favorite looks from the collection included: a crochet spider web veil, with teardrop crystals bordering the edges and a black lace and silk slip underneath; a sheer gray and black dress with layered tulle, spiral embellishments in the center bust, of course dressed with silver chain and crystals and paired with one black glove with pearl accents; and, Charlie Byrd’s show-stopping experience of a look, an asymmetrical silver mini dress paired with a crown, black pumps, and a long horizontal pole behind her back, like an industrial tortured artist crucifixion.
But, Charlie’s ensemble was a favorite for more than its eye-catching props.
“This look makes me feel like an evil queen down, in the best way,” Charlie said. “It’s so funny actually, they were going to put me in a long dress but they saw my tattoo when I was changing, it’s the apocalyptic archetype, basically everything that happens in the apocalypse, and this dress had the perfect cut out for showing it.”
In the same vein, there’s always last-minute punches to roll with or issues that arise – like someone approaching Charlie during our interview to say, “I need you. No one has been briefed that Bonnie is walking, but Bonnie is walking. Bonnie now has a look that didn’t exist five minutes ago. Can she walk behind you, will you look after my Bonnie?”
Starting off as just an intern assisting, Bella explained that she and her “favorite gay guy in New York City” Noah Shaub, loved Bonnie’s look so much that they included her in a photoshoot the night before the show, and then subsequently in the show as a silly nod to Nikki Fina, producer and right hand to Bella.
“I’m obsessed with her so it kind of became a joke with us…we take [jokes] too far, but day of I get to the show, I’m late all of my stuff’s been there for a while and Nikki was like, ‘you don’t have any of these looks done, what’s wrong with you?’ and I was like, ‘I’m going to get everything done, and I’m actually going to make extra,’” Pietro said. “I’m too unserious to have a job like this, but being unserious doesn’t always work, because Bonnie wasn’t at dress rehearsal and there was a major thing in the show that went wrong but we love Bonnie. My fault.”
Alongside dealing with personal matters, like a rat dying in her wall days before the show, Bella proved she is the queen of manifesting, managing a badass team, and making shit work.
The finale look was worn by online icon Kitty Lever, the opener from Bella’s show last season. She wore an embellished, white bridal gown paired with an intricate oversized tiara, and colorful DIY dragonfly wings. Kitty’s persona stayed on the stage during the floodwalk, pacing, screaming and tearing apart a floral bouquet as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake progressed.
“She actually opened up my show last year wearing the same dress and I reworked it as a kind of metamorphosis, signaling the growth we’ve had in our careers and as friends,” Pietro said. “What makes this look really special is my friends Sam and Sarah made the wings as a creative collaboration, we met at camp when we were ten years old, and it is so special to me to not just have work and art and co-workers, but this is like, really a family affair.”
Two models forcibly dragged Kitty off the stage, moments before Bella was carried out on a silky clamshell bed designed by Kayleigh Capote, draped and laced up to match the fairytale pages we all witnessed. The audience, new and die-hard fans alike, left feeling inspired, in awe and raving about the experience.
“Show production is fucking crazy and complex and there’s a trillion things to do and think of at all times. Luckily, this show–and Bella Pietro at its core–relies almost entirely on teamwork and I was deeply supported in this role by my collaborators; it made this process far more enjoyable,” Producer Nikki Fina said. “I was also styling this show, which added another huge level of responsibility, but so fun to be involved creatively beyond logistics. Again, without my assistants & team none of this could happen and I’m so grateful to be supported in such a way that allows me to be fluid in my role.”
The designer mentioned in an interview with Office that she is a seamstress by technicality but sees her talents as being able to bring the right people together for a project, much like Sergei. I believe her technical skills are simply an additional point of talent to being a visionary far beyond her years. At only 24, Bella continues to rise above in design and storytelling, growing with intention while still staying true to herself, a rarity in this industry.
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