A new name on the Paris couture scene, Bahareh Ardakani is a mathematician and engineer by training, which generally means that when she decides to delve into something—whether it’s setting up a couture atelier from scratch or getting into the finer points of couture techniques—she’ll approach it like a problem solver.
But when she dove into “The Folded Sea,” as this collection is called, she said she had to resist a natural urge to try to make every finishing perfect, opting instead for raw hems and a more organic flow. “The sea has always brought me a sense of harmony, so that made this collection very personal for me,” Ardakani explained as she took a giant pair of scissors to a trailing panel of iridescent chiffon on an ornately pleated gown.
The microcosmos in the depths, notably sea urchins, became a focus “because they do protect our ecosystem and help it breathe. I think there’s such beautiful meaning and poetry around not only what they do but also their spinals.” In her show notes, the Swedish-Iranian designer noted that that creature’s pentaradial structure is believed to have talismanic powers, both in Scandinavia and around the Mediterranean, since antiquity.
Shell-like structures and mother-of-pearl, iridescent, watery, or gill-like finishes were the highlights in a strong lineup that moved from simple to full-on barnacled: A metallic cotton fabric was hand-crunched and tailored into a sharp-looking suit with a wrap-around jacket detail and flared trousers (that shape, one of the designer’s ready-to-wear signatures, was very much in evidence around the front row).
Hand-pleating techniques were showcased throughout, creating ripple effects on a GOTs-certified evening gown or tiers of ruffles in gradient charmeuse. “Seahorse” spirals in pink silk cascaded down a corseted minidress. A bustier gown was made of black cotton guipure lace placed over two layers of pink silk organza that took five months of R&D to create because it reprised scanned imagery of a sea urchin’s skeleton. Further along, the designer engineered the triple A in her brand name into corsetry, and its logo into urchin folds embellished with real fish scales, dyed pink and beaded like sequins. Bioluminescence, too, is micro-trending this season, and Ardakani obliged with a black evening gown—a new iteration of an earlier design, now embellished with 168 “sea flower” petals embroidered by Lesage.
Not only did Ardakani hold her own in a season dominated by silhouettes that look as much like sculpture as couture, but she may also have pulled off the coup of the week by tapping two Noma alums, co-founder Claus Meyer and chef André S. Andersen, to cater a luncheon cocktail afterward. Most of all, however, the designer seems to have proved to herself that relaxing—even just a little—can help creativity flow.
