Carly Mark’s Eyes Wide Shut-inspired spring 2023 collection was distinctly cinematic. From beginning to end, Stanley Kubrick‘s distinctly fascinating aesthetics played into every piece. Unsettling satin masks were like a material marriage between a Donda visor and a ballet slipper; chap-like trousers had a high-hip brief silhouette cut into the malleable material of ombré treated leather; patent leather lingerie evoked BDSM fancies; and particularly tender ruching on off-white fabrics invited an air of whimsical romance.
Three sizes of boxy handbags coming in a range of iridescent colours were given Mark’s distinctive foody touch with three-dimensional chocolate-chip cookies glued to their fronts – it was a kitsch proposal but paired with the intimate clothes, cookies became classy. Mark added carnal references too, rousing the essence of Kubrick’s bizarre, 1999 erotic mystery.
Directly referenced from Eyes Wide Shut was a lacy cream bedroom set paired with simple black patent-leather pumps; we all know that famous scene where Nicole Kidman, in only a sheer camisole and high-cut briefs, stands in a doorway against an azure blue light, vulnerable, yet first revealing her character’s strength – Mark remade this moment. There was also a jacquard dress based on Gustave Doré’s engravings of Dante’s Inferno and a sweater with an abstract orgy theme. Alternate cinematic avenues offered a manipulated still from the movie Scrooge – called the “demon” print – that took the form of asymmetric tops and twinsets.
Photography courtesy of Puppets and Puppets.