Romeo Hunte (Q9066)

From the loft-like, second-floor space that served as designer Romeo Hunte’s backstage this year, a description of his spring 2025 collection came quickly: If Netflix were to produce a teen drama following the lives of artsy, big city high school kids, and said kids were allowed to remix and restyle their dress codes of khaki pants, polo shirts, and button-downs, this is what they would come up with. It wasn’t too far off.“It’s very Brooklyn, cool, early-’90s kid, with a twist,” Hunte said. “Bright colors, stripes, polos—but the polos are upside down.” A Brooklyn native who still lives in the borough, Hunte regularly bumps into Spike Lee near the director’s 40 Acres and a Mule office and studio space. In recent months, as he worked on the spring collection, the designer found himself reminiscing about Lee’s seminal coming-of-age film,Crooklyn, set in Bed-Stuy.What stood out from the offering backstage—and what felt most in line with Hunte’s youthful, Brooklyn inspiration—were multiple versions of his sagged pant design (one, a combination of a chino and a camo army pant, another khakis underneath sweats); a sleeveless silk top with a quarter water print; and those upside polos, which went down the runway in both shirt and dress variations.The show started with an illustration of a brownstone-lined Brooklyn block projected onto the walls of the small Midtown space. The aforementioned pieces, worn on a diverse group of models, made sense against the backdrop (as did the cutoff shorts with exposed pockets, which made this writer nostalgic). A few looks, however, seemed amiss—namely those that were pantless. A denim blazer paired with matching briefs, and a white button-down styled with nothing but a necktie didn’t scream Brooklyn; they’re not the type of outfits you want to wear on the A train. A khaki trench dripping in crystal fringe didn’t seem all that practical either, but it was delightful to look at and seemingly fun to wear, which is sometimes all that matters.