Dawei Fall/Winter 2024 Collection Embarks on a Global Odyssey, Drawing Inspiration from the World’s Fashion Capitals

Text by Jesse Scott

From the glamor of modern New York to the refined grit of '90s Milan to the elegance of postwar Paris, Dawei took guests on a journey through the greatest global fashion capitals for Fall/Winter 24/25. Gracefully linking eras and cities, the China-born brand, Dawei, proposed clothes for the contemporary woman who is equally comfortable conversing at an art gallery, a ball, or, a smoky discotheque. Sleek silhouettes and a more powerful color palette than we’ve seen from Dawei in recent seasons, defined a collection that launched the brand into a new era while simultaneously maintaining the “form follows function” ethos central to its DNA.

The looks, largely monochromatic or dichromatic, possessed both masculine ferocity and feminine aloofness. Armor-like textures danced across knits. Structured shoulders and billowing waistlines were as unapproachable as they were elegant, enchanting but also warning guests to stay at a healthy distance. As envisioned by Dawei, one of the protagonists of the collection was an Upper East Side girl attending a gallery opening in Chelsea, “without any trace of enduring the hardships of a long journey.”

Captivating yet inaccessible to those outside of an inner circle, perhaps like the art that she is viewing, she is complex with an air of refined mystery. While from different eras, she is kindred spirits with another of this season’s protagonists, a Parisian girl of the 1950s who sweeps through the streets of the Rive Droite with the effortless grace of the aristocracy. She moves in subtleties, as iridescent and ephemeral-seeming as the shimmering orange velvet and emerald silk that advanced down the runway in voluminous geometric form. Seeking to leave no trace, she nonetheless makes an indelible impression on everyone she interacts with.  

While the pops of orange and green added new glamor to Dawei, the color palette remained largely classic. Blacks, tans, and gray dominated, sometimes in bright platinum tones, such as a stunning knit sweater with a deconstructed fringe, and sometimes in a soothing tan, such as in an asymmetric wool shawl draped over a long coat. The tailoring displayed Dawei’s usual mastery, with the layering inherent to any fall-winter collection allowing guests to expand their understanding of the vision initiated last season. 

Several front row guests wore Dawei pieces from previous seasons, including superstar Ukrainian DJ Korolova, who attended her first Paris fashion Week event in an exquisite pink dress with the same aura as the perfectly coiffed New York girl that the designer has newly envisioned. Resplendent on a sunny day in the airy Palais de Tokyo show space, the dress symbolized a bright future as the Dawei story continues to unfold.