September 10, 2019 |
Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s clothes pose a certain joie de vivre, an infectious love of life, clothes and dressing. It’s a pervasive and brilliantly consuming spirit that is so closely aligned with her own ethos, which can be glimpsed through her beautifully candid curation of snapshots she shares with her followers on Instagram. Returning from her holidays in Europe, where she spent the final weeks of the summer by the Spanish sea in Formentera, the SS20 collection spoke of the perfect vacation wardrobe for the following summer in such a convincing way it left a hint of the holiday blues and a yearning to get away. With swimwear featured heavily presented layered into looks or styled unashamedly alone, given the gravitas of “real” clothes as they become on holiday.
Zadeh’s friend Lili Sumner opened the show coyly confident in only a button-down lace waistcoat, a pair of bikini bottoms, net gloves, strapped heels and mini bag, with Nane Feist, Jane Moseley and artist Susan Cianciolo also looking right at home in the setting of the sunken court in the Lower East Side’s Sara D. Roosevelt Park. The colour palette came in an eclectically expansive spectrum that ranged from cool neutrals to day-glow yellow, fuschia pink, royal blue and neon lime green, via various earthy tones. And the pieces were just as exciting, each slightly off-kilter and interesting to wear as one of your favourite thrift shop finds would be. MNZ’s references for SS20 were drawn from across the board with references to business style dressing, safari style, menswear, the beach and raves, all coming together in a way which feels so inexplicably natural and enviously effortless.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
