London Fashion Week show from Di Petsa blends mythological fantasy with gender-fluid design through theatrical performance for AW25
By Ethan Hall
The Di Petsa AW25 collection felt like a mythological reanimation of history's fantasies. Held in the Strand’s own 180 Studios, the home of London Fashion Week, many stars walked down and attended the runway such as Mia Khalifa, Bimini, The Last Dinner Party and Ayra Starr.
Petsa used this collection to explore the dynamic between carnality and divinity. In doing so, she reimagined menswear through the female gaze and explored sexuality and subversion of female desire archetypes. Blacks, whites, and reds prevailed as the most common colors in the collection—a provocative, contrasting palette to explore these dynamics and the space between.
The characters and acting in this show create a narrative. Performance and interaction with the crowd were key to the show. Towards the closing of the show, a model wrapped in a bridal look was surrounded by male models in tight, lace underwear offering their flowers to her. Characters also appeared as “the knight in shining armour,” which was split into both male and female forms, and the angel man, who was draped in silk.
The looks consisted of loosely and tightly draped clothes around the body. Most looks were slim and hugged close to the body, they ebbed and flowed around the body revealing lengths of the body and closing up again. Many looks involved the ruching of sheer fabrics layered over a contrasting colour underneath, creating very textured looks.
Di Petsa delivered an exciting performance. A haunting experience as the models gently floated down the runway. The collection poetically explores binary gendered views, which in turn created a very aesthetically pleasing show and collection of looks.
Photos courtesy of Getty/Di Petsa
