After two years away from the runway, Emily Adams Bode Aujla took to New Orleans to debut her latest Bode Rec. collection in collaboration with GQ. “This is the first time that we’re showing Bode Recreation as a show, and the impetus for that came through conversations with Will [Welch, GQ’s editor in chief], who we’re quite close with,” explained the designer at her downtown Manhattan studio a week before the show. “We don’t do shows unless it really makes sense to build the world of what we’re doing.”

The show took place at the Hotel Peter and Paul, which was decorated to appear like a high school auditorium. Flanking the stage was a trio of papier-mâché martini glasses, inspired by parade floats from the 1930s and ’40s, overfilled with bubbles that spelled out B-O-D-E R-E-C. Aujla and her team were thinking about those classic all-American tropes of the star quarterback and the homecoming queen; a fitting theme for an event taking place during Super Bowl weekend (but also one that naturally fits Aujla’s creative tendencies). Many of the models were football players, including Ja’Marr Chase, wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, and CeeDee Lamb, wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.

Lucky Blue Smith opened the show wearing a suit inspired by traditional marching band uniforms, a sash across his torso and a bouquet of flowers in his hand, subverting the notion of a homecoming queen. Green was a dominant color, inspired by the green of the University of Oregon, which Aujla came across a few years ago when she visited the Nike archives. (Blink and you missed the debut of the new Nike x Bode Astro Grabber in that same shade of green.) Bode womenswear, which was introduced in 2023, continued to be cheeky and lighthearted, with lots of vintage-inspired fringe and bare-skin moments, but always very tastefully done. A part of the collection is already available for sale on the website.

Elsewhere, it was a strong showing of the label’s signature tailoring: embellished and inspired by classic tuxedo silhouettes mixed with more playful and youthful silhouettes. Like the orange tiger-print T-shirt with “iron-on” letters that read “Beer Is Food” tucked into the waistband of elegant tuxedo trousers with a satin cummerbund worn by Evan Mock. Many of the looks were styled with pieces from the Bode main collection. “You might wear Bode Rec. all by itself, but for the most part, the goal is that you’re shopping across both collections,” Aujla said. Alvin Kamara, a running back for the New Orleans Saints, wore a T-shirt printed with the cover of Faulkner’s classic The Sound and the Fury. “It is not just thinking about being inspired by athletic clothes,” Aujla explained. “It’s actually thinking about the football player in school. What is he wearing? What’s his look? And so that’s why it is important to always have these more souvenir-style shirts, because they really drive home the idea of this is a guy in a hallway at his school. It fits into the scene.”