Presented during New York Fashion Week at Cuna Bar & Lounge at The Standard, East Village, DWARMIS delivers a collection that treats fabric like earth itself, something to be shaped, pressed, and formed through intention.
For Fall Winter 2026, Dominican-born, New York-based designer Dwarmis Concepcion takes the spotlight with TIERRA, a collection that interrogates origin not as a fixed point but as raw material. Dust and water, the most elemental of substances, serve as the conceptual foundation here. When combined, they become clay, moldable, enduring, responsive to the hands that shape them. It is a fitting metaphor for a designer whose work is built through process, patience, and proximity to craft.
The intimate presentation format suits the collection’s ethos. Rather than the velocity of a runway, TIERRA unfolds slowly, allowing each piece to communicate its construction. Fabrics behave with the memory of clay, holding shape, responding to the body, carrying the evidence of how they were made. There is nothing performative about this work. Every seam, every fold, every layered silhouette speaks to method.
Tailoring is disciplined but never rigid. Layered compositions move between structure and ease, built for a woman who dresses with intention but refuses to be constrained. The palette reinforces this grounding: clay tones, washed aquas, mineral yellow, black and white, colors pulled directly from the earth and water that inspired them. Nothing here screams for attention. Everything earns it.
A New York Woman, Always From Somewhere
What makes DWARMIS compelling is the specificity of its point of view. Concepcion designs for the woman she knows best: herself. A New Yorker by rhythm, Dominican by root, shaped by the constant negotiation between the two.
“I’m a New York woman, but since I’m from the island I always try to be spicy as a Latina,” Concepcion shares with us at the presentation. “I always try to design for multiple seasons. You want it to be ready for every season. You can go back home or travel, and you want to pull pieces that work everywhere.“
That versatility is embedded in the construction. Pieces transition across climates and contexts without losing their identity. A coat that works in a New York February functions just as well thrown over shoulders on a warm Caribbean evening. This is not about trend-driven seasonality but about building a wardrobe that moves with life.
Travel feeds the work directly. “I like to see different cultures and really live with them, have that experience,” she said. “I always look at what I see when I travel.” The result is a collection that feels genuinely cosmopolitan without ever becoming generic.
Process Over Performance
Concepcion’s design method is material-first. She begins months ahead, gathering ideas, draping, making mock-ups, testing what each fabric can do before allowing the garment to reveal itself. “For me it’s more about the fabrics and what can I do with them, and then things start evolving,” she explained. It is an approach rooted in curiosity rather than formula, and it shows in the finished work. TIERRA’s pieces feel discovered rather than designed.
The production itself is entirely local to New York, a deliberate choice that keeps Concepcion close to every stage of the process while supporting the communities she belongs to.
Built by Immigrants, Presented with Pride
Perhaps the most resonant dimension of TIERRA is its human architecture. The collection was made almost entirely by immigrants. The sewers, the factory workers, the photographer, the majority of the models, all from somewhere else, all contributing to something built in New York.
“We are pretty much all immigrants,” Concepcion said. “From the one that made it, the fabric sourced from somewhere else, the sewer, the factory, the photographer, the majority of the models. We’re all from somewhere and I wanted to represent that in this collection. We need that support and we’re here to bring something new and good.”
In a political climate that increasingly questions who belongs, TIERRA answers quietly but firmly: the people who build things belong wherever they build them.
What Comes Next
TIERRA is the work of a designer finding her stride in New York. With each collection, Concepcion sharpens her voice, deepens her commitment to local production, and builds a case for fashion that values process over spectacle. As DWARMIS continues to grow, the foundation she is laying, garment by garment, stitch by stitch, from the ground up, feels increasingly solid.
Discover more of the collection in our gallery:
