Mood board: Akris’ Albert Kreimler is the master of unifying art and fashion. When other brands appear to seek out partnerships for Instagrammable gimmicks or quick cultural validity, the designer imbues his art- or architecture-inspired collections with integrity and passion. His recent collaborative roster has included Geta Bratescu and Alexander Girard. For S/S 2020, the artist was taken with the work of 1903-born Italian painter Antonio Calderara, whose figurative work moved into experimentations of colour and form in the mid-1950s, focusing on lines and squares, and incorporating the mist of Lake Orta in Vacciago, where he lived from the mid-1930s. This meant an opalising colour palette of white and black, suffused with glittering golds and silvers, embodied in molten tailoring, fluid dresses, relaxed suiting and gowns embellished with graphic mosaic, in sequin silk, lurex jersey and pearlised suede.
Finishing touches: At the head of the catwalk stood a huger replica of the Akris’ signature trapezoidal tote, the ‘Ai,’ which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The design was originally inspired by a pavilion built by the Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, and its geometric shape has become a design code of the brand.
Its silhouette was updated for spring and worn on the catwalk strung on the waist as a bumbag, or seen in its newer version the Aicon.
Best in show: A series of gauzy geometric looks, like a silk georgette kaftan and a flared trouser suit nodded to the square colour blocked tones in Calderara’s Pittura (1960).
Akris S/S 2020
Akris S/S 2020
Akris S/S 2020
Akris S/S 2020
-
Oscar Ouyang’s imaginative knitwear makes him a London Fashion Week name to watchThe Guangdong-born designer, who recently graduated from Central Saint Martins, will hold his first runway show at LFW tomorrow. As part of our Uprising column, Wallpaper* gets a preview of the collection
-
The new Nothing Ear (3) are fine-sounding earbuds with added audio functionalityNothing’s latest upgrade brings the Super Mic to its earbud range, enhancing call quality and creating a handy voice memo taker
-
‘Marie Antoinette Style’ at the V&A dares us to consider the woman beneath the artificeThe most intriguing objects in the V&A’s landmark exhibition on Marie Antoinette are not the sumptuous gowns or jewellery, but those which expose the French monarch’s corporality – from her spittoon to a toiletry case – argues India Birgitta Jarvis
-
What the Wallpaper* editors are looking forward to at fashion week, from blockbuster debuts to rising starsThe Wallpaper* style team pick their highlights from the upcoming fashion month, a definitive season as the industry’s major players start their latest chapters, beginning in New York tomorrow
-
How Bureau Betak transformed the runway show: ‘Our currency is emotion and memory’Pioneering production company Bureau Betak has masterminded some of the most inspiring runway sets of the last 30 years, dazzling both real-life guests and an ever-growing virtual global audience. Hugo Macdonald meets the people behind the magic
-
‘Never copy the past’: how Nicolas Di Felice is taking Courrèges into the futureAt Courrèges, artistic director Nicolas Di Felice is marrying radical thinking, raving and reinterpreted minimalist codes to give the French fashion house a new dynamism. Hannah Tindle heads to Paris to meet the designer
-
Glenn Martens’ thrilling Maison Margiela debut was a balancing act between past, present and futureThe Belgian designer made his debut for the house last night with a collection that looked towards medieval decoration for a new expression of opulence
-
Art meets perfume in cross-disciplinary fragrance series Nez 1+1Talents from film and fragrance come together to create Ansongo, the latest scent resulting from a creative matchmaking project by perfume revue Nez
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
The collections you might have missed this S/S 2026 menswear seasonBetween the headliners in Paris, Milan and Florence, a few off-schedule displays are deserving of honourable mention – from Martine Rose’s sexually-charged portrait of Kensington Market to Sander Lak’s appointment-only namesake debut
-
‘They gave me carte blanche to do what I want’: Paul Kooiker photographs the students of Gerrit Rietveld Academie for Acne StudiosHeralding the launch of a new permanent gallery from fashion label Acne Studios, the celebrated Dutch photographer’s new body of work praises the bravery of ‘people who choose to go to an art school at a time like this’
