February 13, 2023 |
An inflatable translucent puffer jacket in clear-coated vinyl, worn open over a seductive fishnet bodysuit and fluid black trousers belted by a leather criss-cross fastening, opened Dion Lee’s AW23 show. Floating through the vacant downtown Manhattan loft where the event unfolded, the coat looked like a fragile bubble of molted serpentine skin.
The collection was fittingly called Second Skin, and it toyed with the tension between baring all and covering up with the added exploration of a repeated reptilian motif. It is not unusual for Lee to find inspiration in the natural world and merge it with his quintessential luxury New York partywear – in September he linked monstera leaf patterns and classic motocross lines. This season, slinky dresses, barely-there tank tops, micro-mini skirts and tummy-baring tops were precisely cut in Lee’s signature style to reveal just a supple taste of the good bits, but came out cloaked by corset-cut puffer coats and shearling outerwear. Elsewhere a cinched periwinkle dress threaded with a thick cable cord resembled snakeskin. Ripped reptilian denim, wide-gauge knits and mixed-gauge mesh, thigh high mock-croc boots and an abstracted mesh, gloved bodysuit fired up the heat.
By manipulating peeling rubber, distressed ball chain applied over silk georgette, shaved shearling and Japanese shibori dyeing, Lee’s vision of the shedding of skin gave birth to a new New York kind of cool.
Photography courtesy of Dion Lee.
