Becoming Inhuman with America Universo SS25
Sex is always the message for Universo—something not to be afraid of but welcome and questioned with the gaze of the world.
Photography by Louis F. Cota
What's more delicious than a line of chic New Yorkers decked in custom Dior? Avant-garde cutouts and the most envious leather boots decorate the outside, waiting to get in. Clearly, the guests were taking note of the invitation: a distressed leather patch, emulating human skin, stated America Universo. There is a surreal feeling as party guests file into the all-white venue. America Universo creates a world of troubling chaos that leaves everyone wanting more. What could this night hold? Ominous tech blares throughout the room as the lights simmer to a calming low, anticipating the first look to surprise us.
“Ding” goes the elevator, and out comes the first look. Nude latex and feathers dress the head and body of the model, sculpting the figure in a tattered phoenix rising. She watches everyone, pulling them in with a gaze haunted by lore. Her body shifted and moved through the runway, illuminating the iconic Maison Margiela by John Galliano SS24 show, where performance became a part of the garment's storytelling. The audience is awed by the broken but tantalizing figures slowing through the venue.
Photography by Louis F. Cota
Created by sister duo Irma Universo and Frida America, they embarked on telling a story of frigid femininity marked with purgatory and asylum. The looks referenced bondage with multi-strapped back halters encapsulated with black leather, flesh-colored latex peeking ample breast and glossed legs, and spike-covered ultra miniskirts. Models balanced on tall pleasers covered in hair (not fur), focusing on pervasive cutouts to illuminate a woman's anatomy. Sex is always the message for Universo—something not to be afraid of but welcome and questioned with the gaze of the world. If tormented by the questions of the patriarchy, what leaves room for authenticity? The complete cloaking of white mesh, bonded with metal bars, answers for the moment of softness. America Universo shows the world that the skin we live in needs room to be ugly and seen.
