“Close to Positano, there are age-old myths of mermaids and underwater garden worlds. These fables from Southern Italy have influenced my imagination over the years — the Neapolitan sea is, no doubt, a place of endless inspiration. With this collection, I’m letting you dive into the dream with me—and splicing it with a high fashion fantasy,” says Giuliano Calza, Creative Director of GCDS.

As Calza’s fashion journey continues to evolve, the designer has found himself on a proverbial island in the sun, shining with surreal brilliance far beyond the horizon. In this paradise, there’s an element of escapism, and the freedom one might find in getting away from the turmoil of the past eighteen months. Throughout this nautical frontier, Calza’s favorite fashion fixations have become the stylings of a water-world fairytale. They revel in both relaxation and hedonism; they’re a prologue to a bright new future.

To present Spring/Summer 2022—the first collection shown since GCDS sold a majority stake position to the Made in Italy Fund—Calza conceived and directed a short fantasy film. After the success of the Fall/Winter 2021 digital catwalk (which amounted over 1.5 million views), this season marks step two in demonstrating Calza’s fantastical imagination. The film tracks the collection through the oft unusual monotony of day-to-day life, extending across a barren desert. It concludes, however, with the discovery of a new paradise. Against an imaginative aquarium, a symbol of this brave and bright new future, anthropomorphic crossover is possible and mythic beauty suddenly becomes real.

When it comes to creativity, I begin everything from a place of deep resonance,” says Calza. “I take these cues and emotions and power them by seeing optimism and brightness at the end of the tunnel. Living life is all about growth and getting through the tough parts, so, this collection and this film are a representation of that. Of hitting a point of liberty and ecstasy.”

See the lookbook below: