If, outside of London fashion week, which took place from February 17 to 22, the Eunice storm sent shivers down the spine, it is a wind of moist sensuality that the designers’ proposals for autumn exhale- next winter.
Winner of the LVMH Prize in 2021, the Albanian Nensi Dojaka makes a liberating and alluring wardrobe. His recipe? Clothes with symmetrical and graphic constructions where one reads his training in lingerie. Her dresses and tops, much applauded, underline the breasts, drop a strap from the shoulder, dare to open up the hips (provided, to guarantee the effect, that you agree to wear the whole thing without underwear…) . “I’ve been creating dresses in this spirit for celebrities lately, and wanted to continue to explore this genre even more, while mixing it with other possibilities”, breathes Dojaka, trembling with emotion after her parade. She thus introduces velvet, suits or sequins, as on a mermaid dress worn by the model Maggie Maurer, four months pregnant.
In a dark room at Sadler’s Wells, a theater close to Islington, Erdem first plays on auditory sensuality. While studies by Philip Glass, interpreted by Annie Yim on a grand piano, resonate, girls enter the scene in dresses and coats so richly embroidered with sequins that they crackle with each step. Strict tailoring à la Marlene Dietrich, Fortuny-style pleated ensembles and leather opera gloves intersect with crystal-covered babydolls, pearl-embroidered tulle that lets the body show through and great evening bras. “I wanted to revive, in a more ghostly way, a cabaret of the 1920s, by claiming its sexual subtext: a bra is assumed over a dress”, underlines Erdem Moralioglu, inspired by the “fluidity of genres” of the images of the Austrian photographer Madame d’Ora (1881-1963).
The skin is also revealed on the slender boys dressed by the duo from the Stefan Cooke label. Apprentice rocker attitudes and silver-stitched hair, they tumble in trompe-l’oeil knit jackets that pass for denim, but also in hybrid half-polo, half-cardigan tops that leave the navel exposed, in mesh sweaters on the torso. And even in chainmail tank tops, but more clubbers than knights in arms…
More jazzy, Rejina Pyo seated her guests at aperitif time in front of a lemon gin at Aubrey, the table at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. “I recently discovered the “supper clubs”, meeting places between friends under the Prohibition of the 1930s, where alcohol was served on the sly. I wanted to rediscover its vibration. explains the designer. His models pass through the cozy alcoves of the restaurant, in faded denim, tight dresses with pop prints, branded bags. “I said to them: imagine you go to the bathroom or the locker room and have to walk across the room knowing that everyone is watching you. » They take the opportunity to wink at one, a knowing smile at the other. “I wanted a direct collusion with the spectatorssays Pyo. The sexy, it’s not just about getting inside. It’s also that particular thrill of the very beginning of a flirtation. »
