Batsheva Hay was ready for some change. “I’ve been growing, and I’ve just really been spitting out lots of styles,” she explained on a recent morning over Zoom. “This time, I really wanted to tone it down, and we did that on the shoot. It was a whole collaborative experience.” The “we” in question refers to Hay and the photographer Quill Lemons, who shot the lookbook — a first, given that her husband, the photographer Alexei Hay, has photographed all the lookbooks and campaigns since she began her brand. Hay says she went big when making the clothes for this season, but there are only 20 or so looks that made the final edit. (“The rest I will be wearing in my personal life,” she said.)
For resort, Hay focused on party dresses that would work from day to night. “All the buyers are telling me, no one wants day dresses anymore. Everyone wants party dresses,” she said. She looked to late 1960s-1970s Yves Saint Laurent as a reference point, like with a cream cotton dress with a black velvet bodice and ruffled collar, or a multicolor sparkly mesh layered maxi dress that was made for a casual hostess welcoming someone to their house with a tray of artfully prepared canapés and drinks. A navy taffeta slip dress with contrasting white trim and white floral embroidery felt like a new direction for the designer — especially with the angled bodice that artfully exposed the decolletage. Also present is the dress that Lexi Howard, played by Maude Apatow, wore in the New Year’s scene in Euphoria. “I was like, throw it in, you gotta get it,” Hay added laughing.
Two gowns, modeled by Veronica Webb and Molly Ringwald, who “happened to drop by the shoot,” also felt like fresh additions to Hay’s oeuvre. Webb’s bohemian long sleeve dress with black velvet trim at the empire waist and balloon sleeves was an adult, minimalist version of a ren faire frock. Meanwhile, Ringwald’s acid lemon structured gown, also decorated with black velvet ribbon bows, was clean and sleek in its design. “I actually got too excited making it, and I ended up wearing it out to an after-party for the Met Ball,” the designer recalls. Batsheva the label is such a perfect representation of Hay herself that it’s almost impossible for the designer to make a misstep. When this collection drops, she will likely not be the only one thinking “I need to wear that now.”
