There was a fantastic eeriness to this season’s Kiko Kostadinov show. Staged inside a Parisian culinary school, the menswear maven littered the floor of a stark hall with crinkly leaves and scraps of paper. The audience sat in two conjoined semi circles, two models appearing on the catwalk at once, swapping sides in a sort of ritualistic routine. The designer had cited the work of Hungarian director Béla Tarr as a starting point, whose melancholic films confront the reality of living day-to-day in isolated environments.
Bringing a more “textured and rugged” approach to his retro-futuristic design hand, echoes of military uniforms could be seen in Asics boots split at the toe and sculpted jackets and trouser co-ords with pronounced pockets. Worn-in knits – laden with Kon Trubkovich-like triangles – and cracking overcoats were collaged from contrasting patterns and fabrics, a nod to people having to patchwork surplus clothes together out of necessity in Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, where Kostadinov hails from.
Through his work, the designer has consistently championed the handcraft of his native country, as seen through the swirled motifs that adorned tunics and balero style jackets that were like ghostly crests of uncharted lands. All in Kostadinov’s unexpected colour parings, which darted from muddy browns to teal and hazard orange with ease and sophistication, this superb outing from the designer made for one of Paris’ standout moments.
Photography courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov.
