This June, the Casa de Campo Resort in the Dominican Republic will stage its inaugural Fashion Week, a multiday event positioning the island as a new nexus for luxury. While the schedule promises international designers and wellness seminars, the historical thread connecting fashion, art, and the body is as intimate as it gets. The runway presentations, including those by Dominican designers like Giannina Azar and the late Jenny Polanco, continue a tradition of crafting identity through cloth that is foundational to lingerie.
Consider the participation of Spanish duo The 2nd Skin Co. and special guest Custo Barcelona. Their work echoes a century of European couturiers, from Poiret to Vionnet, who first liberated the female silhouette by rethinking the undergarment. The event’s emphasis on wellness and the body’s form further roots it in lingerie history, where brands like Maidenform in the 1920s sold not just bras, but dreams of modernity and self-possession. Even the resort setting is apt; the mid-century rise of destination travel coincided with the popularization of the bikini and sun-worshipping aesthetics that reshaped undergarments for decades.
By merging runway shows with educational talks, Casa de Campo Fashion Week mirrors the museum’s own mission: to frame fashion not as mere spectacle, but as a dialogue between the body, culture, and the often-unseen layers that shape both.
Originally reported by WWD