Fashion Month Review
A subjective (and late) review of FW24!
Words by Shinnie Park
Fashion month is one of the craziest times one can experience. Running from one show to another, getting into one Uber to the next. To combat the hecticness, I thought it would be good to take some time to think through the collections after they’ve been released. And alas, another season has gone and passed, from New York, London, Milan to Paris, these are some of the brands that caught our eyes at MUT. Themes like girlhood, femininity, time, and heritage were explored by designers and maisons. Here are our thoughts.
I was fortunate enough to attend the Sandy Liang show this season. The brand now celebrates its 10th-year anniversary, and in the past couple of years, they have finally started to receive the recognition they deserve. I feel as though fashion has been on a journey of reclaiming “girlhood.” The popularity of bows, ballet flats, and charm necklaces all speak to this, and Sandy Liang is at the forefront of it. Following a story of a schoolgirl who grows up to become a princess, a very Princess Diaries plot, the collection was a beautiful assortment of uniform-like suits, bow-embellished dresses in all types of silhouettes – slinky, puffy, long, and short. Offering a little girly treat for everyone, no matter their style.
Peter Do presented his second runway collection at Helmut Lang, titled “Protection Vs. Projection,” an exploration of how we use fashion as a medium for both shielding and expressing. The runway starts off with a sheer, tailored shirt and pants look, with a bubble wrap-like texture. A safety cone orange top, bulletproof vests, and neck pillow-like bags become armor of sorts. The heavy eye makeup is reminiscent of camouflage paint (and also Maison Margiela Spring 1993). The collection is a back and forth of ‘armor and adornment’ while keeping the essence of Helmut Lang – beautifully designed clothes for the everyday, an urban, New York way of dressing.
Look 3. Man License
Look 4. Real Man
Look 33. Unlocked Layer
Look 36. Question of Time
Dilara has built a cult following in London since her debut collection. The secret sauce to her signature sense of allure: a blend of goth punk and elements of historical dressing. Her FW24 collection “Femme Vortex” is a manifesto for the divine feminine disrupting a world of masculine power. The designs are tender yet strong, played out with juxtaposing suiting with sheer layers, corsetry, and ruffles. The world that Dilara creates is a tangible version of a fantastical world created by women for women, a place where patriarchy is no more and women, both flesh and thought, are free to be anything they would like to be.
Daniel Lee presented his third runway for the British heritage house. This season it seems like he is tapping deep into the house’s roots. If you ask anyone to describe Burberry, these three words are likely to come up: British, Nova check, and trench coats. This, combined with their long history and craftsmanship, is what makes Burberry who they are. And this show delivered exactly that. Coats buttoned high up the neck with checked skirts and scarves, the models even holding umbrellas. An undeniably “British look” if I say so myself.
I have a playlist of all of my teen year bops called “Things are Always More Romantic When it’s in the Past’’. Prada for their FW24 collection dives into the romanticization of the past. Like many others, I consider Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons as my fashion mother and father. There is something about their designs that are both practical and beautiful, a little bit post-modernistic, masculine and feminine all at once. Their deep understanding of archival fashion is something I admire immensely as well. They do not break away from their roots but continue to innovate, remaining as a constant of Fashion. The show note for this season reads “Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons embed fashion with fragments of histories, in an exploration of notions of beauty, of a contemporary world formed by memories. There is a romance, with the past.” The contrast between the front and back of each look, models walking with their hands to their chest (a classic Prada pose), bags carried at the crook of the arm (like how the late Queen Elizabeth carried her bags) evokes a sense of connection to the past and present.
Chloé has always been an “it girl” in my mind. She is like the older sister of your friend who teaches you how to put on makeup, lets you play dress-up in her clothes, and tells you about all the cool music shows she’s been to. Her leather jackets are always perfectly worn-in, and her hair tousled but not messy. Chamena Kamali’s inaugural show at Chloé was inspired by this bohemian attitude of the house, something that is fluid, feminine, and effortlessly powerful. This is her 3rd tenure at the brand, first with Phoebe Philo, second with Claire Wright Keller, and now as a creative director herself. It is no shock that everything felt so natural yet new–I would even call it a homeground advantage?
The reason why I love Miuccia Prada so much as a brand and as a designer is largely thanks to Miu Miu. While Prada is her business persona, Miu Miu is a place where she is free to express her girly, child-like charm. “Every single morning I have to decide if I am a 15-year-old girl or an old lady,” Prada said in her recent Vogue interview. As a woman in the realm of corporate America, I feel like I am required to put on a facade of adult-ness. But on the other hand, I do not feel young like I used to. You become a swinging pendulum between childhood and adulthood. I see a story told through the progression of each look, prim and proper babydoll dresses and pea coats like how a mother dresses her child, the child goes to school in a gray ill-fitting uniform, she starts experimenting with her style with bright bold colors and finally becoming an elegant Audrey Hepburn-esque lady.