When I heard the screams of “OH MY GOD! IT’S HER” and saw two bald, brawny bodyguards enter the Brooklyn warehouse where Luar held its runway last New York Fashion Week in February, I knew I was about to experience something special: Beyoncé had arrived at Luar’s show.
Beyoncé coming to the brand’s Fall 2024 showing was her first fashion week appearance in nine years. Understandably, it incited pandemonium—a level of chaos I’ve only witnessed once before when Black Friday shopping at my local Best Buy. Showgoers got out of their seats while models were still walking the runway to get a better look at Bey in her silver sequined blazer and Stetson cowboy hat. One guest behind me turned their back entirely to the clothes coming out, prioritizing a clear shot at the 32-time Grammy winner for their Instagram Live instead.
In my Uber back to Manhattan that night, I remember listening to the newly-released “Texas Hold ‘Em” while scrolling through my blurry photos of Luar’s super-shouldered leather jackets and texting a friend, “I am a different person now that I’ve breathed the same air as Beyoncé.”
So, Dominican-American designer Raul Lopez had a lofty task ahead of him with Luar’s Spring 2025 show on September 10th at NYFW held at 30 Rockefeller Center. How would he follow up the mountain-moving act of bringing Beyoncé to deep Bushwick—where his former show was held—and breaking her decade-long sabbatical from the fashion circus?
The answer revealed itself as soon as Model of the Year nominee Alex Consani burst through 30 Rock’s revolving doors in a swathing black bustier and sheer tights and kicked off the show. Spring 2025 was Lopez reminding the audience of his skill at making serious, sexy clothes and sculpting silhouettes to exaggerate and exalt the physical form. His craft alone offers enough drama to make a Luar show one you’ll remember forever.
Of course, it helped that Madonna was there. The Queen of Pop, sat in the front row next to rapper Ice Spice, arrived fashionably late in big bug glasses and a Luar camel coat dress with shoulder pads that could give a linebacker a run for his money.
Luar’s Spring 2025 collection was titled “En Boca Quedó,” directly translating to “I stay in the mouth,” or, as the brand elaborated in its show notes, the idea that “even after you’ve walked away, you know people will keep talking about you—good or bad.” Lopez knows this was a show that people will be talking about—in fact, he encourages the chatter.
The 53-look collection included several of Luar’s signatures, ranging from the more commercial, like the cult-favorite circular handle Ana bag, to the more avant-garde, like his hulking shoulder silhouettes seen throughout the outerwear—like the black trench the rapper Offset wore when walking the runway in a surprise cameo.
Lopez also found novel ways to subvert his already ridiculous proportions, particularly with garments that featured cocooning back boning that extended inches into the air—a distorted trench coat with what looked like wind trapped up the back vent and a sand-colored knit dress that wouldn’t have felt out of place during Zendaya’s Dune: Part Two press tour.
Punk rock was a core influence for the Luar collection, and its traces were seen in coats featuring removable zipper panels, super-cinched leather jackets, and short shorts covered with diagonal slits. The runway was also flanked by crashed cars that had been converted into speakers and subwoofers that blasted music so loud I could feel the bass in my bones.
Another distinctly punk element to the show was the sheer magnitude of it: what’s more punk than disrupting an average Tuesday night in New York City by putting on a public-ish show that the tourists eating water dogs and shopping at F.A.O. Schwartz can enjoy for free?
And Lopez’s mission to get people talking was instantly proven successful: “That was insane,” I overheard a tween say to his friend as I flagged down a taxi on Fifth Avenue.
On my car ride home, while watching and re-watching the videos of the show’s finale and the five-second clip I captured of Madonna exiting 30 Rock, I couldn’t help but agree with the young fashion fan. Luar's Spring 2025 show was one for the books.
