Sweet Baby Rays plays “Dress Up” for NYFW
In lipstick red typeface, the bottom of the bubblegum-pink Sweet Baby Rays Tees website proclaims: “if you don’t get it, it’s not for you”. I would say the same about the Sweet Baby Rays x Chlomosexual Presents Fall/Winter 2026 New York Fashion Week (NYFW) show Dress Up, but, well… you wouldn’t have found your way to the foggy altar of the catwalk in the basement of H0L0 in Ridgewood, Queens if it wasn’t already for you.
The spectacle brought together different realms of Brooklyn’s up-and-coming creative talent. The wardrobe was the work of Ray Baker of Sweet Baby Rays Tees (SBRT), whose saccharine baby tees carry the kind of provocative slogans that could cause a website to feature a disclaimer.
The word of FW26, according to Ray, is simple: C-U-N-T. The four-letter word was scrawled across the kind of shrunken tees after which Baker has named her brand. Alongside it were classic SBRT quotes like “ENFORCE MALE CURFEWS,” printed across model Malea Kimberly’s granny panties hidden demurely under a gossamer-sheer, probably vintage peignoir.
Model Codi Smith set the tone early when he slunk onstage, shoulders hulking under his padded football jersey with “GOD LOVES SLUTS” in gothic lettering across his back, all while showing off his sword, reflecting the stage lights like a lethal disco ball.
The importance of another common social cause was visible, in a doily heart on model Malin Andrée’s sleeve: “FUCK ICE”. But it was “CUNT” that stole the show. It was “CUNT” that was emblazoned on model Britt Migs’ wedding dress and veil, each lifted in orgiastic succession by her stage–and now, maybe life–partner.
At this point, the event’s queerness hardly needs stating outright. But it was, and it was revelatory.
Chloe Phillips, who may be better known to readers as Chlomosexual Presents, was the evening’s Executive Producer. Collaborating with Ray and movement director Rachel Tiedemann, the casting reflected the spectrum of their creative networks.
“I worked on this project with so many of my best friends who happen to be some of the most iconic people in NYC nightlife and entertainment,” Chloe said when asked about her collaborations. “In addition to traditional models, we wanted to have representation by the people who contribute to and shape the culture within our community.”
For Rachel, a choreographer, dancer, and performer, remaining backstage was a newer experience.
“As an artist I am often in my own work so just being able to watch is such a privilege. The moment that I will remember most was opening the dressing room doors to see a room filled with people waiting to see this show that I had the privilege of directing,” Tiedemann said.
Showrunner Bella Danzi and backstage coordinator Jesse Hepworth worked to keep the pre-show chaos to a healthy minimum. Chloe’s connections to the world of cannabis brands ensured the crowd was well taken care of by the show’s partners Sass, Rythm, and FLAMER.
The crux of the show was a hybrid between live printmaking and performance art.
Brooklyn-based, club-kid music darling Von (and the evening’s Music Director) performed her newest single “BICEP” while strutting up and down the runway.
Emboldened by the clearly star-struck crowd, she stripped down to her microkini bottoms, turning in circles to make sure everybody in the crowd could witness her glory. This kind of fearlessness is exactly why the artist has built a cult following on the sweatiest, steamiest dance floors of New York and beyond.
Von held up a clear stencil stained with red paint, revealing the crimson outline of the word CUNT. As she triumphantly held the stencil above her head, Ray began to spray paint the approximation of her signature white baby tee directly onto Von’s bare skin.
The spectacle seemed to evoke Shalom Harlow’s iconic tutu dress spray painted by robots during the finale of Alexander McQueen’s S/S 1999 show, No. 13. The replacement of McQueen’s cold, mechanical arms with Baker’s human hand and creative vision seemed a fitting update for our current moment, one cleverly in line with Baker’s anti-ai statements.
SBRT currently stocks tees in both baby and classic silhouettes emblazoned with the perfect slogan, “AI is for fugly losers”. While Harlow appears to cower from the robots, shielding her face fearfully, Von and Ray’s mutual trust was evident and reverberated throughout the room.
The exchange between artist and model, maker and muse, felt, for once, reciprocal.
When asked for a peek behind the curtain at this creative collaboration, Ray shared that the idea to live paint a baby tee onto her friend Von was the centerpiece around which the team’s vision for a different kind of “living and breathing” runway show first took shape.
“Bringing the scene to life with Von felt impactful. As an artist and producer herself she fully embodies the notion of using dress up as a form of artistic expression and that after a certain point it really no longer is dress up at all, but a second skin, something we’re always wearing,” Ray said. “And of course as an artist whose entire line is printed by hand, it felt important to me to include something live and very tactile during the show.”
Von declared simply that “nudity makes picking out a fit way easier.” If only my friends could design and paint a custom tee directly onto my body every time I needed a new look.
I left Ridgewood itching to buy a baby tee that proclaimed my cuntiness to the world, and itching to throw a party with and for all of my most creative friends. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all.
“It was important to have a seamless production that’s actually fun. Too many fashion week events have people spending half their night in a line,” Von said. “We were like, come sweaty, stay sweaty, leave sweatier–and [leave] with a bunch of hot and nice people to be sweaty with.”
Event Production Credits:
Photographer: Brynn Owen
Executive Producer: Chloe Philips
Show / Movement Director: Rachel Tiedemann
Show Runner: Bella Danzi
Assistant Producer: Jer Block
Music Director: Von
Lighting Design: Joshua Groth
Hair: Ali Jo Stroud
Makeup: Kally Compton
Accessories: Ali Joy
Backstage Coordinator: Jesse Hepworth
Models: Britt Migs, Motti, Colette March, Malin Andrée, Fangs, Malea Kimberly, Kari Ferrell, Bunny, Codi Smith, and Aaron Mancus.