The syncretic spirit of Carnival pulses through fashion week—though Luar may be closing out the week in New York City, the house infuses the vibrant energy of the Dominican Republic into the city that never sleeps. For Spring/Summer 2026, history, ancestry, and rebellion merge in a spectacle of color, vividly memorialized through the Brooklyn-based label’s designs.

Photography by Ik Aldama

The collection opens with models in sleek, restrained black velvet uniforms—an unassuming palette soon upended as flocks of vivacious feathers in red, cobalt, saffron, and midnight black parade the runway. Their faces are concealed with theatrical bedazzled masquerade masks and dramatic sunglasses.

Costume and ritual performance, so integral to Carnival, leave their mark on New York Fashion Week’s creative vision—particularly through the lens of Luar Creative Director Raul Lopez. “The grotesque beauty of the diablos cojuelos” comes alive in spiking feathered coverings, full coats, tube-like skirts and tops, and Gladiator-style heels that climb the leg. The Luar collection notes reflect: “I draw from the pre-colonial strength of the Taíno people, whose presence endures beneath centuries of silence. Their symbols, cosmology, and earth-bound wisdom inform silhouettes that feel both sacred and futuristic.”

Photography by Ik Aldama

Each element of Luar’s Spring/Summer ’26 speaks to another deeper layer of history. Not just Carnival, the collection also confronts the brutal legacy of slavery, “how it fractured bodies, families, and futures—yet simultaneously birthed radical forms of creativity, expression, and resistance.” The world’s dualities of survival, celebration, camouflage, and clarity make room for one another, meeting at Carnival and again in Luar’s designs.

Photography by Ik Aldama

Photography by Ik Aldama