“We’re bringing up two girls in this world and it’s turned into such a mess that we feel a strong responsibility to show them it must not be like this for them,” said Thea Bregazzi. Blythe and Fauve are 8 and 4 years old, respectively. Their dad, Justin Thornton, seconded that. “We continually want to give our daughters the message that they can have the future they want. . . They can do what they want, wear whatever they want, and nothing can alter the power of who they are.” Even without knowing this, you could detect the potent symbolism from look one: a woman wearing a white bonnet, a swathed white linen shirt over a blouse with 18th-century cuffs, and white pants. On one side of her shirt, a red letter A was embroidered in a lopsided typeface. An obvious nod to Hester Prynne and her letter A in The Scarlet Letter, Thornton and Bregazzi’s looked more like a graffitied anarchy symbol. The stark contrasts between white dresses and red socks which followed were inescapable echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale and the terror of the combined forces of totalitarianism and religion, which are again threatening female freedoms in our time.

There followed a section of skimpier dresses, collaged from silken camisoles, slips, and lace—the underlying sexuality for which women are desired, accused, and abused in every society. Maybe. Or maybe they were just pretty dresses? Thornton and Bregazzi are great at pretty dresses—the fluttery, asymmetrical, ruffled, and printed ones in dusty pastels and flashes of silver beading reiterated that. Were we off the subject of empowerment by now? Not at all, Bregazzi asserted. “I love the idea of a woman being able to stand up and deliver a lecture in front of a room full of men while wearing a beautiful floaty dress if she wants to. Why not?”

Thornton and Bregazzi read. Instead of a routine press release describing their collections or the standard mood boards most designers populate with magazine tear sheets and pictures of art, this couple communicates seasonally by issuing guests with a photograph of a stack of books. Among the recommended texts this time: Anarchism and Other Essays, Growing Strong Daughters, Pink Sari Revolution, Divided by Faith, Girls Think of Everything, The Scarlet Letter (of course), and The Metaphysical Book of Gems and Crystals. Thornton and Bregazzi have an interest in magic—they called up earthy, ancient goddesses and witches in their Spring 2017 collection. In times that seem apocalyptic, people do cling to cults and religions when all else fails. They’ve been looking into that, as well as politics and history, to construct ways to resist the evils of regressive forces that might limit the futures of their children.

“Ultimately, you know, I think it’s about having faith,” said Bregazzi.

Faith that things will improve?

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