As Covid-19 was hitting the fashion industry – and all industries worldwide – Sally LaPointe thought about ways to navigate this unprecedented time to reflect and recharge.

“The past year has been an opportunity to figure out what’s right for the brand,” LaPointe said. “It’s almost as if the rules were thrown out and everyone was thinking, ‘Okay, what is right for us? How do we want to move forward?’ For us, you can’t beat the energy of doing shows. I love them, but in the Covid era, we thought about the need for a new way to show, a new direction and excitement for the brand. This just felt right.”

By “this,” the designer refers to the phenomenal transformation of a retail unit on Howard Street that all fashion folks worth their salt are familiar with. Not so long ago, it was the home of Opening Ceremony, the boutique that transformed the energy around this strip just above Canal Street. LaPointe, whose studio is also on Howard, took over the vacant unit for her Spring-Summer 2022 New York Fashion Week presentation, transforming it into a neon-and-LED romp that energized the whole block.

“It was a way to have a very branded space, and to say, ‘This is who we are’ in a very loud way,’” LaPointe explained during a preview. “I am all about color-driven statement dressing. How do I transform a space to say that?”

Consider it mission accomplished. The event was designed “rave-glow” hues, with lookbook images transformed into gifs that played on 10-foot high translucent LED screens.

“For spring, the inspiration was a post-Covid rave,” LaPointe said. “It was the first collection I designed at the height of lockdown. Everyone was working from home, and I was having to design a collection from my house, and I was thinking, ‘when this comes out, what is it going to be like?’” Think vibrant energy, Pump Up The Volume, and abundant excitement and you get the picture. “I want people to dress up again and look at fashion the way they used to.”

Of the 29 looks in the collection, she highlighted 14 in the installation, including some fabulous suiting in glowing hues with new details such as feathers and a harness overlay, a glowing trench coat, and outwear in a soft and supple coated fleece. It was electrifying and fit for the nightlife that served as inspiration. It all channeled a 1990s vibe that was greatly appreciated by this member of Generation X.

The installation could easily serve as a template for a future LaPointe store concept—the temptation to not take it down and turn it into a flagship boutique surely crossed the designer’s mind. “There are so many exciting things happening to the brand and it is a good way to rest the waters a little bit,” LaPointe offered.

Looking back at her first decade in business, the LaPointe woman is clearer than ever with this collection. “It definitely has a different energy to it; it looks little different but when you break it down it’s the same fabrics, the same aesthetic, the same woman,” she noted. “It’s just presented in a new, energized, loud way.”

It’s an energy that this part of downtown definitely needed. In fact, the night before opening, a passersby couldn’t help but marvel at the transformed space. “She said, ‘I have lived on this block for 30 years. I have never seen such an exciting space,’” LaPointe recalled, with a smile. And that’s just how the designer wanted it. As a time when some designers prefer to venture into other boroughs, LaPointe has a clear mission: “I want to bring it back to Manhattan.”