In a season already defined by flowers, Zomer took the concept one step further by collaborating with an actual florist. Or make that “floral artists” Debeaulieu, the creators of phenomenal bouquets sent to top editors, A-listers and clients particularly during the collections.
Backstage before the show, designer Danial Aitouganov was hard-pressed to pick a favorite bloom, noting that he is partial to bouquets of all kinds, while co-founder Imruh Asha is a lotus guy himself.
“We had this idea of how the Zomer garden would look,” Aitouganov offered. With that idea, he went back to the studio and began growing the idea by toying with abstraction, treatments and literal interpretations. The collaboration with Debeaulieu, for example, yielded a couple of showpiece compositions—one made of real blooms, the other of artificial flowers dipped in chrome, a sculpture by Isabel + Helen.
On the runway, the clothes really popped. Bright blooms were abstracted as whorls of satin, noodles of fluorescent mesh fringe with pearly beads inside, 3D posies with caviar beading, a poppy umbrella, gatherings of fabric around negative space, patches veiled by overlay, wrinkled neoprene wools, cashmere, silks, organza and printed Ecco leather (on peplum skirts) and a mashup of feather and sequin embroidery on a skirt. Certainly, some of the placements were straight-up saucy, but it was all in good fun. Accessories—limited edition leather bowling sneakers produced in collaboration the Finnish heritage brand Karhu, jewelry by Panconesi—looked covetable too.
Meanwhile, in recent months Aitouganov left his day job in the menswear department at Louis Vuitton to dedicate himself fully to Zomer. It showed. On the soundtrack, a runaway train seemed to bear down faster and faster. Its implicit meaning was lost on no-one. The only thing left to do is buckle up and enjoy the ride.
