For Spring/Summer 2026, Raúl López used the Luar runway to stage a personal and political exploration of heritage. The collection, titled Fantasía, turned to Dominican Carnival — one of the Caribbean’s oldest cultural traditions — as both inspiration and framework for examining identity, resilience, and reclamation.
Carnival in the Dominican Republic, believed to date back to the 1500s, carries layered histories of colonization, survival, and cultural preservation. López translated its emblematic characters, such as the Tiznaos and Platanuses, into silhouettes, textures, and colors that balanced spectacle with wearability.
Architectural tailoring — long a Luar signature — was infused with exuberant patterning and embellishment, evoking the theatricality of Carnival while maintaining a distinctly modern edge. A vivid palette underscored the collection’s celebratory energy, while structural details anchored it in the brand’s design codes.
Beyond aesthetic references, Fantasía positioned Luar within a growing movement of designers using fashion as a platform to engage with Caribbean heritage in a global luxury context. Rather than reducing cultural markers to motifs, the collection treated history as a foundation for innovation — situating Luar at the intersection of diaspora storytelling and contemporary design.
With Fantasía, López underscored his role as a designer translating lived and inherited histories into a global fashion language, while affirming the Caribbean as a powerful wellspring of creativity shaping the future of New York fashion.
Images courtesy LUAR/Ik Aldama
