BATSHEVA

If you're drawn to BATSHEVA's particular brand of modest-yet-whimsical dressing — stiff collars, tiered skirts and prints that designer Batsheva Hay has called "almost uncomfortably naïve" — there's really nothing else quite like it, which is most of the value. These aren't basics; they're statement pieces with a strong point of view, and they reward people who want to dress adventurously rather than blend in. If your wardrobe leans plain and pared-back, a single BATSHEVA dress may feel like a costume; if you love a frill and a story, it'll feel like a uniform.

A large part of the cost comes from how the pieces are made: Hay often works with vintage and limited-run fabrics sourced in small quantities, which means many designs are effectively short runs or one-offs rather than mass production. That scarcity, plus the labour of the tiered, collared, frill-heavy silhouettes, is what you're paying for. It's a small independent label built around a singular aesthetic, not a high-volume brand chasing low prices.

The brand traces back to 2016, when Batsheva Hay took a beloved vintage Laura Ashley dress to a dressmaker to have it remade — and decided in the process that she wanted to build a fashion line. She founded her own label, Batsheva, shortly after, turning that Laura-Ashley-revival impulse into an entire aesthetic of stiff collars, tiered skirts and naïve prints.

Batsheva Hay is an American fashion designer who grew up in Queens, New York, in a secular Jewish household. Before fashion she earned a B.A. from Stanford, an M.A. in psychology, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center — an unusual route into design. She's married to fashion photographer Alexei Hay, and she's been a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) since 2019.

BATSHEVA's signature is a modest-yet-whimsical silhouette: stiff collars, tiered skirts, and floral or folk prints Hay describes as "almost uncomfortably naïve." It reads as a knowing, slightly ironic revival of prairie and Laura-Ashley-style dressing — demure on the surface, but with an offbeat, art-school wink underneath. That tension between prim and playful is the whole point of the brand.

BATSHEVA has been worn by a notably eclectic group, including Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Lena Dunham and Gillian Jacobs. The label also had a high-profile civic moment: Hay co-designed the inauguration-day dress worn by Ella Emhoff, stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, in January 2021. That mix — actors, comedians, a political stage — captures the brand's offbeat reach.

Yes. In 2018, Hay was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and was awarded $150,000, and she showed at New York Fashion Week that September. She's been a CFDA member since 2019 and attended the 2021 CFDA Fashion Awards as a VIP guest. For a small independent label, that's meaningful establishment recognition.

BATSHEVA sells through its own channels and a curated set of stockists, which is the safest route for new pieces. Because Hay frequently uses limited or vintage fabrics, individual prints sell out and aren't always reprinted, so the resale market is lively — older styles regularly turn up on secondhand and vintage platforms. When buying preowned, check the print and silhouette against the label's known looks, since the distinctive collars, tiers and naïve prints are hard to fake convincingly.

Both live in the prairie-dress world, but they pull in different directions. BATSHEVA is the more historically pointed, Victorian-and-prairie-inflected option — high collars, tiered frills and that deliberately naïve print sensibility, with an ironic New York edge. Dôen, by contrast, reads softer and more bohemian, leaning Laurel-Canyon rather than American-Midwest. Choose BATSHEVA if you want the prim, knowing, slightly costume-y statement; choose Dôen if you want an easier, dreamier floral.

BATSHEVA silhouettes are built to be roomy and modest — tiered skirts, high collars and generous volume are part of the design, so don't expect a body-skimming fit. Lean into the brand's playful spirit: the dresses carry an outfit on their own, so keep accessories simple and let the collar and print do the talking. They work as easily layered over a turtleneck in winter as worn alone in summer, which is part of their year-round appeal.

A bit of both, which is exactly its charm. The brand began as a sincere love letter to a vintage Laura Ashley dress, yet Hay's own description of her prints as "almost uncomfortably naïve" signals that there's a knowing wink built in. BATSHEVA dressing is genuinely modest and pretty, but it's also self-aware about prairie nostalgia — which is why it reads as both heartfelt and a little subversive.