Lost and Found...

What do you want to feel when you look at a new collection?

I’ve been thinking a lot about fashion and feelings these last few weeks.

If I had to chose just one word to describe what I want to feel - it’s glee.

I don’t need fashion to make make me feel strong or sexy or powerful. What moves me is whimsy and playfulness. Life is hard enough without enchantment, fun and magic.

Which is why I was so smitten with Arthur Arbessers ‘Lost and Found’ collection for SS22.

Created during cover when the whole world felt as though it had shut down forever Arthur Arbesser’s creative team took time to play by recycling shipping boxes into cardboard flowers and crocheting fanciful hats. 

The collection’s title “Lost and Found,” refers concretely to inspirations found in a family attic that spark happy memories, but it can also mean things lost and found in the pandemic, like the joy of making things in quiet moments. 

“I realized that it is so important to do something with your hands because you get a sort of satisfaction, and we need satisfaction,’’

In the wake of the pandemic, the Milan-based Austrian designer has happily given up the runway for more personal presentations, transforming a storefront in Milan’s tony luxury shopping district into a creative studio decorated with a bespoke mural and displaying a new line of table clothes along with his latest collection. 

Details from the mural became a decoration on a dress pocket. The long romantic silhouettes contrasted with crop tops. A mini-dress in black-and-white check was paired with a boxy print shirt, while a short skirt in tapestry had a youthful appeal. Prints of the season include naive drawings, colored checkerboard prints with a pixel effect, alongside gingham, retro plaids and stripes. 

There is quite a strong early Marni and Colville vibe to it all but as I love them both very much that is no bad thing.

Queen Marie

x