Body-Celebratory. Xuly.Bët SS24

December 5, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Lamine Badian Kouyaté’s well-known wizardry with pantyhose dates to the 1990s. For spring-summer 2024, the designer revived the signature red-stitched nylon tops with which he first made his name. Cut into a sleeved bandeau that can be worn Flashdance style, or pieced into a minidress with elongated sleeves, these stretchy Xuly.Bët wonders had a second-skin fit that goes with Kouyaté’s body-conscious and body-celebratory dressing. Their flexibility also spoke more broadly to the designer’s generous and innovative approach to fashion, which is influenced by his experiences with second hand clothes in Mali, and can now also be framed within current discussions about sustainability. Also back in action were Kouyaté’s sporty jackets and tops made using upcycled American football jerseys. Some looks were styled with vintage basketball shorts, whose bagginess provided a nice contrast to the tight fits of leggings and micro minis. The gold-on-denim pieces – some modeled by the designer’s son – were part of a collaboration between Xuly.Bët and artist Smaïl Kanouté. Kouyaté used Kanouté prints on pieces worn in a performance of “Yasuke (The Black Samurai),” which is about bringing together diverse traditions, choreographed by Kanouté. Kouyaté still believes in the power of fashion to evoke joy; he also thinks it can be used as a platform for change.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Go With The Flow. Maryam Nassir Zadeh SS24

November 30, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Spontaneous” is a word that well describes Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s design practice. The spring-summer 2024 „Rush” lookbook is a result – not by choice, but by circumstance – of total spontaneity, as it was styled and documented during one afternoon in Paris. „The exhilarating exercise was taken as an activity of being in the moment surrendering to circumstance and making the most an afternoon with people you love around a medium you love, clothing”, said the New York-based designer of the go-with-the-flow process. Following your guts and instincts is the best possible advice anyone in fashion should take close to heart, and while sadly not many follow it, Nassir Zadeh proves that its utterly true. The collection, paired down in fabrics and styles, is a sincere return to the designer’s core and past styles, as well as a reiteration of her favorite summer clothes. But there were also novelties that will be enjoyed by the brand’s loyal fanbase. One of the heroes of this lineup is a wrap that can be worn as a skirt or a dress that was inspired by a cover-up Zadeh’s mother wore in the ’90s. It’s essentially an easy-peasy scarf-topped skirt that you self-tie. It’s vacation-ready but also has that lived-in Lower East Side cool with which Zadeh’s work has become so synonymous. “What I’ve been trying to achieve for so long is this sensibility which I look for a lot… when a garment has spirit in it and it has lightness and delicacy in the way that it’s made.” Love.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Tethys. Standing Ground SS24

November 22, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

For his third showcase at Fashion East, the sensational Standing Ground designer Michael Stewart doubled down on his statuesque yet ethereal aesthetic in a collection – entitled Tethys, a reference to the prehistoric Tethys Sea which was an early ocean formed about 35 million years ago when most of the countries of the earth were still one large landmass- made from offcuts and leftover fabrics. This time, the palette was inspired by the pastoral landscapes of Ireland, featuring shades of powder blue and moss green. There were column dresses with ruched detailing adorned with intricate beading. “While I’ve developed something of a distinct aesthetic that’s a combination of technique and form, this season’s pieces have a certain purity and softness, while maintaining something of a sci-fi vibe,” he shared ahead of the show back in September. Ever since founding Standing Ground in 2022, Stewart has strictly dedicated himself to the canvas of the evening gown. He is a designer who knows the importance of a sharp fold and a glamorous wrinkle. Naturally, his spring-summer 2024 outing delivered that in abundance. The construction of these pieces was exquisite. It will be hard to forget the cobalt blue gown constructed from a single piece of fabric or the green crushed velvet number that genuinely made that notoriously tacky fabric look couture. Of course, the beaded accoutrements were the stars of the show. The show notes described them as “Xenomorphic coils, conjuring subliminal techno-erotics and a gothic posthumanism.” They encrusted the dresses like barnacles, or a H.R. Giger-style exoskeleton.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Ultra-Femininity. Mirror Palais SS24

November 17, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Marcelo Gaia’s Mirror Palais is a cult worth giving in to. Since 2019 the stylist turned designer has been whipping up sensual ready-to-wear, which has done quite well due to his keen eye for fit. For his spring-summer 2024 collection, presented during New York Fashion Week in September, the designer aimed to find a balance between fantasy and wearability, which worked well through his glam lens. Inspired by a love of vintage, the line offered a modern ode to flirty, feminine and sexy decade-spanning nostalgia with craftsmanship to match. “Definitely the late 18th century – there’s a little bit of Marie Antoinette, then a little bit of 1950s Audrey Hepburn and the 1990s supermodels. Eras when women were in their most flowering, and they’re fun,” Gaia said of the season’s inspirations. Looks spanned from flounced taffeta skirts with little tops to a strong assortment of corsetry (a cream blazer with little shorts; a polka-dotted strapless top with ‘50s capris, or laced up numbers) as well as pretty white day dresses, mushroom-like knife-pleated dresses and ‘90s bodycon bandage styles. Whether leaning into ladylike sensibility with a fluid polka-dot gown or going full femme fatale with sheer, ruffled frocks, Gaia emphasized the importance of offering styles for all body types, utilizing more stretch fabrics, adjustable waist details and a mix of sheer and lined silhouettes throughout.

Persist. Renaissance Renaissance SS24

November 13, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Renaissance Renaissance persists and thrives. Currently based between Paris and Beirut, Cynthia Merhej, the Lebanese designer, has recently come out the other side of a period of reviewing, revising, and refining. She has sought out suppliers and factories in Lebanon to assist her mother with production; reworked all her patterns and fine-tuned the fit of her existing garments; scrutinized her best-received designs to date and rejuvenated them. And she has found the time to develop shoes: sleek leather ballet slippers with sporty rubber soles, made at a family-owned factory in Lebanon, and embellished with silk bows she hand makes in her mother’s atelier. Merhej’s spring collection was beautifully put together, styled for the lookbook by Claudia Sinclair. “I wanted everything to be able to be layered over everything else,” the designer explained. “And I wanted to make everything really wearable, so that even our signature tulle skirts didn’t look too pouf-y and princessy, but could be worn every day, maybe even over jeans.” The highlights: neat little military-style, technical-twill blazers that segue into delicate tulle trims; a dove grey, bubble-hemmed mini dress in a sportswear taffeta that can be layered over knits or worn against the body; gathered tulle skirts, shirts and dresses that form a clever contrast with beautifully cut cotton shirts; layered cotton day-dresses with charming little bows and fastenings; cropped cardigans with slashed backs and trailing tulle ribbons embroidered with lines of poetry by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. “I just loved how they were able to talk about these very difficult subjects, sometimes violent, in a very soft, beautiful way.” For spring, Merhej had envisioned a protesting woman, walking on the street with white banners flying behind her. “I wanted to mix the idea of something that feels a bit more crisp and structured with a lot of softness, lightness and fragility,” she said. “I felt like I had to be a warrior, I had to keep going, and at the same time I felt inside like I was gonna crack!” She’s right to pour her vulnerability into her clothes.