WOMEN COLLECTIONS A/W 2022.23

hat are we doing here, with fashion? Should I cancel?’ But no: I decided we must resist.” This is how Demna Gvasalia, creative director at Balenciaga, who has close ties with Ukraine, having fled to Odesa as a child to escape the war in his homeland Georgia, sums up is the embodiment of variety, seamlessly switching between maximalism and minimalism, elegance and comfort, hyper-feminine and gender fluid, classic and sportswear, past and present – in a highly personal way based on attitudes and experiences. But if you prefer to take a clearer path, i.e. you want to be sure of at least one thing in these suspended, uncertain times, simply choose a world and lock yourself up in it. A shadowy world, poetic and decadent but sheltered from external threats, from a reality we don’t like any more. Dark by choice, not by imposition; brings with it romantic and sensual suggestions, kohl-rimmed eyes behind little veils, scarlet lips and metallic gemstones, glossy lacquered or velvety surfaces, muted tints dominated by black and borrowed from past eras that were undoubtedly happier than this one. The flipside to this mood is less gloomy and more open to highlighting the femininity that has been shut up at home for two whole years. is all about celebrating ultra-mini hemlines, tight fitting volumes, visible underwear, corsets and latex.