London-based Bulgarian designer Kiko Kostadinov seems to have a special predilection for schools, since, just like last season, the eponymous brand has once again chosen this type of location to present its Spring/Summer 24 collection.
Kostadinov has a great power of convocation, since, although it is not a mainstream or popular brand, it always manages to get the fashion editors of any media or magazine and the experts of the sector to rearrange their agendas to attend its fashion show. On this occasion, the guests and the walls of the chosen venue witnessed the founder of the brand reflect on the metafictional ideas of cinema and fashion, as well as the architectures that are used to tell stories about the male body.
The proposal recently unveiled during Paris Fashion Week is tinged with the imperfect beauty of everyday life, intermingling cultures, and occasions in which the spatial works of conceptual artist Tom Burr (American born 1963) take on a special meaning, returning as a double reference: They inform the fashion show at the Lycée Henri IV (the venue chosen to host the show), recontextualised as a liminal space between archive, backstage and front-of-house, in the studded, pleated and disordered surfaces of the line itself.
Aside from the works of Tom Burr, there are others whose references can be seen in the garments presented, such as those of Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italian, 1922-75) full of colour and vignettes of masculine youth, like the work La Ricotta, which continues to make an irreverent study of formality in disorder.
Since when is disorder formal? On the contrary, it is informal, as are K.K.’s garments, except a few that stand out for their functional soles and paillettes; flat pleats; and hand-rolled raw-knit appliqués. These features make the Bulgarian’s clothes all the more complex, and furthering this thought are the Bulgarian embroideries of stars and flowers that pay homage to Kiko’s culture, the gazar collars, ornamental buttons, and satin dinner jacket stripes that add moments of frivolity to the rigorous structure of bold jackets and coats with the eighties feel.
The S/S wardrobe of Kiko Kostadinov is vast and includes everything from the aforementioned pieces to zip-up jumpsuits that express the sensual tension between dressing and undressing, to hybrid shirts and shirt jackets with knotted knit side panels and countless other garments, made in a wide palette of colours ranging from greys, browns, and greens to yellow, cadmium, cobalt blue, pink and lilac. All of these shades work masterfully with the matt or shiny fabrics chosen, such as ultra-lightweight cotton, lurex, hammered satin, iridescent wool, and diamond jacquard.
Check out Kiko Kostadinov’s Spring/Summer 24 collection below:
