Zhou showed oversized coats and dresses with structured circular hems using organic, free-flowing choreography. The performance, featuring his signature tongue-in-cheek humour, emphasised the importance of evoking emotions when engaging with fashion.
“For other shows [like musicals or ballets], I always feel so emotionally touched, but for fashion shows, I rarely feel that way. I conceptualised with this contrarian question in mind: are there any fashion shows that make me feel emotionally touched?
“Because at the end of the day, clothes may disintegrate, but feelings are something that we always have,” Zhou says.
2. Allina Liu
Just outside New York’s SoHo neighbourhood, Allina Liu held an intimate presentation of her SS24 collection, which was inspired by the Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone and by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
While the story of Persephone deals with a woman who was abducted and taken to the underworld, Liu pushes back against the narrative of submitting as a form of weakness.
“The more you lean into your hyperfemininity, the more power comes from that,” Liu says, pointing to her signature Shibari-knot-tying detailing influenced by BDSM – bondage, discipline and sadomasochism – techniques.With several themes of femininity at play, Liu blended contrasting elements and provided an avenue into sensual dressing that is both soft and seductive – perfect for the modern-day romantic.
3. Kim Shui
Kim Shui’s SS24 collection is all about embracing the uncelebrated. Shui, drawing from her identity as a first-generation American displaced in Italy, has transformed her experiences into a powerful and joyful statement that inspires feminine celebration.“Women have been shamed for so many things, and this collection is all about taking the negative things and embracing them instead,” Shui says.
She has done that by indulging in the frivolous and ornate through her choice of materials – her catwalk was filled with extravagance, transporting audiences into a fantastical realm through bursts of vibrant hues, floral patterns, sequins, silk, taffeta, tulle and lace.
4. Dauphinette
Dauphinette’s latest collection is not afraid to speak to you.
From a deadstock – unsold clothing – lime cashmere coat embellished with “everything under the sun” that noisily made its way down the runway, to shoes bedazzled with the words “Ouch!” and “Bite me”, designer Olivia Cheng not only made a statement through her clothing but in the way she made it.
Cheng, championing the sustainable ethos that got her brand its start, provided attendees with a bill of materials to accompany her show notes – which stated that each look in her collection was produced with at least 50 per cent upcycled material.
The thematic thread linking her SS24 looks was protection, and the collection was titled “Gods, Girls and Monsters”. Cheng explained that the theme was her gateway into bigger conversations about what it means to protect.
Neither too vague nor too specific, Cheng allowed her attendees to be “reeled in by the abstraction” and invited them to engage and reflect on what protection really looks like from a sustainability standpoint, alongside what it means to protect ourselves and one another in a social and physical context.
5. Grace Ling
Grace Ling made a memorable debut with an eccentric collection that nodded to surreal and modernist art.
The designer, who is from Singapore but now lives in New York, has made her mark as a Net-a-Porter Vanguard fund alumnus and more recently, a finalist for the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) & Genesis Houses AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) + Innovation Grant.
She unveiled a collection of 30 looks, many of which showcased Ling’s signature 3D metal accents in eccentric shapes – a touch steadily gaining her a cult following.
Models emerged dramatically from darkness and into the spotlight, captivating viewers with a line-up of black, white and grey garments. Referencing Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch’s work The Garden of Earthly Delights, the collection included daring pieces like a crow-shaped bag, a cheeky derrière minaudière – a bag shaped into a person’s behind – and an ombré fabric that transitions from opaque to sheer.
6. Kozaburo
Having spent his childhood and youth in Tokyo, Kozaburo Akasaka, who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, found inspiration in the vibrant culture of the ’90s Japan when designing his most recent collection.
In addition to his youth, which manifests itself in the collection’s sleek silhouettes, Akasaka paid homage to New York, his home for the past 10 years, with a colour palette mimicking a sunset.
Akasaka produced, using East/West influences and the traditional Japanese sakiori weaving technique, a fresh take on traditional men’s fashion with meticulous attention to cut and fit. The result? A menswear collection with American-Japanese edge.
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