We’re celebrating art this October, including the strong synergy between art and fashion that was prevalent on AW24 runways in London, Paris, Milan and New York.
This season’s collections were awash with inspiration taken from the arts. We saw Jonathan Anderson inspired by the paintings of American artist Albert York for his collection for LOEWE; London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic bringing to life Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s hand painted murals; Joseph Altuzarra’s love affair with performance and theatre; and Peter Griffiths of Max Mara referencing the sombre mood of iconic French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.
These are the best artistic collections this season.
LOEWE
Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of LOEWE, was inspired by the paintings of American artist Albert York for his autumn/winter 2024 collection. The late painter was known for his modestly sized depictions of idyllic landscapes and floral still lifes, and Anderson reimagined these through his distinctive lens with bags, dresses, co-ords and shoes decorated with adaptions of York’s prints. To contextualise the collection, the show – which was held at Paris Fashion Week – took place in a space conceived as an art gallery with lights in shades of green; an ode to Albert York’s most used colour in his paintings, and who’s works of art were featured on the walls.
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ROKSANDA
London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic is heavily inspired by artists for her collections – the brand rooted in rich artistic oeuvre, and a multidisciplinary approach to her work that merges the boundaries between the differing creative disciplines of art, dance and fashion. Showing at none other than London’s iconic Tate Britain, the spark for her AW24 collection came from a visit to Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s 12-square-foot holiday cabin on the Côte d’Azur in France. Finding brilliance in the free-spirited murals that Le Corbusier hand painted in the cabin’s entrance hall, she used these as a starting point for her stand-out tapestry designs that were full of texture, colour and movement.
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ALTUZARRA
Celebrating the 15th anniversary of his brand, Joseph Altuzarra wanted his autumn/winter collection to feel like heirlooms, with pieces that emanated a life of travels and discoveries. Taking inspiration from the book A Doll’s House by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, set in the 1800s, as well as from the imagery of trailblazing American photographer Deborah Turbeville, the collection is themed around womanhood, theatre and performance, using fashion as an art form and tool of expression. Thinking about the clothes the characters wore in Henrik Ibsen’s 1870s book, Altuzarra reimagined Pierrot ruffled collars on blouses and dresses, and there was evidence of performance and ballet, with Rudolf Nureyev’s ruffled shirts and tights plus 17th-century clown harlequin prints, all softened with Deborah Tuberville’s subtle femininity and neutral palette seen in her editorial photography. The idea of costume was evident here, borrowed from different time periods whilst looking like vintage treasures in a truly modern way.
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ERDEM
Designer Erdem Moralıoğlu always looks to noteworthy and interesting women from the past for his collections, and this season American-Greek opera singer Maria Callas was the star of the show. Paying tribute to the heroine, an enigma both on and off the stage, Erdem specially referenced a career-defining moment for Maria, when she performed Greek mythology play Medea in the 1950s, of which he describes, “the production was like alchemy. Callas did not play the role; she inhabited a persona with such force to the point that the boundary between artist and performance vanished. Disbelief, suspended utterly. The collection explores the thin realm between myth and reality, on stage and off stage, dressed and undressed, person and persona, sorcery and seduction.” His theatrical homage to Callas was seen through powerful yet feminine clothes: a nod to her sense of style. Satin floral dresses, an opera coat, a symphony of textures and gold accessories – reminiscent of the opulent jewellery favoured by Callas herself – set against the backdrop of the British Museum’s Elgin Marbles, ancient Greek marble sculptures.
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MAX MARA
This season’s inspiration for creative director Ian Griffiths was French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, who revolutionised French literature with her best known works Gigi, Claudine and Chéri. Camel is the house colour of Max Mara, although this season there was an obvious departure, with an autumn/winter colour palette of deep blues, smokey greys and black that depicted the sober mood of Colette’s writing. The clothes were serious not frivolous, with menswear-inspired outerwear juxtaposed with streamlined dresses and minimalist separates. Griffiths described her literature in the terms of Max Mara’s design codes “sleek, modern but so evocative, pulling on emotional strings that you didn’t know you even had.”
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Lead image: LOEWE
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