Looks Fashion News

For fall, the artsiest duo on the Paris calendar took their collaborative approach one step further. “We asked people on our team, what is your favorite sweater, jacket, trouser,” Danial Aitouganov explained backstage before the show as Imruh Asha approved the lineup. Everyone from interns to product developers turned up at the studio with treasures from their closets—a slip dress, jersey skirts, kilts, cargos, a Comme des Garçons cardigan—and Aitouganov was off and Zomer-fying.

“I love to pick the brains of my people,” he said. “We started playing and just had so much fun.” That included toying with AI, notably for developing new motifs from vintage silk scarves sourced here and there, including in the designer’s mother’s stash of Russian prints, rejigged to dramatic effect on Look 22. “I’m not afraid of AI because I really see it as a tool,” the designer said. “When the first digital camera came out, photographers who used film were also freaking out, and now it’s part of our culture. I feel the same with AI for design.”

With signature good humor, Zomer slipped through the looking glass, turning clothes inside out and upside down at every opportunity. Many looks begged a second and even third glance because nothing was quite as it seemed: there was a convincing case for the return of the V-neck top, worn on the runway either classically or as skirts. Backs swerved to front, quilted linings bubbled to the surface, a bright red duffel became a skirt, and so forth. Layering and magpie flourishes—love letters, feathers or jewels spilling from pockets, retro watches used as straps or brooches—brought a sense of whimsy and experimentation to some seriously strong pieces, among them sleek single-breasted wool coats, a trench with a contrasting ballooned back—a salient trend for fall—and a couple of bomber/overcoat hybrids patchworked into a flattering hourglass construction. Less effective was the decision to pivot away from the intimate, gallery-like setting that, in the past, has let the clothes come more fully into their own.