Focussing in on “pure surface texture”, Kiko Kostadinov’s AW24 outing played with its existing design language to create something deeply considered, clean and more mature. Describing it as “an aggregate manifesto of gestures and forms”, the designer’s signature silhouettes were cleverly skewed and reinvigorated. Rendered in mellow, earthy hues, belted overalls-cum-boiler suits, boxy jackets with matching slouchy trousers, subversive knee-length trench coats and structured-yet-baggy suiting made up most of the lineup. Punching looks up with layers of faded baby blue, lilac and ultraviolet, as well as striking chartreuse and the occasional stroke of burgundy or lime green, Kostadinov wanted to allow the eye of the beholder to journey through colour and “the displacement of familiarity”. Those gaze-grasping tinctures were also worked in horizontally striped, ribbed jumpers.
Noi Kamo created the technical felt crowns worn by models at the show. Using ball point pins to fix what looked like climbing rope to the anadems, the rising design talent’s experimental headpieces felt reminiscent of the ones illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and worn by Max, in the children’s picture book Where The Wild Things Are. In actuality, these referenced Kostadinov’s Bulgarian heritage.
The collection became a canvas, already coated in nearly seven years worth of archival paint, for Kostadinov’s canon to evolve and seek new horizons rooted in the established silhouettes that saw the designer become a high-flyer in such a short time. It was a masterstroke of pure idiosyncrasy – past, present and future.
Photography by Christina Fragkou.
