Di Petsa fall winter 2023

Di Petsa presents the fall winter 2023 collection in London.

DI PETSA continues an exploration into the Greek Myth of Persephone, one of the most ancient coming-of-age stories. The transition from maiden to the goddess of the underworld. The title breaking and healing references the constant rebirth of the earth and the self. This is echoed in new styles of recycled leather corseted dresses that show a broken look like cracked earth.

From Spring to Winter. The catwalk is a storytelling of that myth with video art featuring a sun slowly morphing into the moon. The clothes start from an eclectic collection of colours from deep reds, browns and Golds, representing her childhood close to her mother, Demeter. They then begin descending into black and silver as we see PERSEPHONE, the character descent into the underworld, and in that darkness, she is reborn.

The show explores the mother archetype with a mix of real pregnant women and corseted constructions of pregnancy. Another key piece is the pregnancy puffer jacket representing the pregnancy of self. The pregnant belly is removed during the show to represent the models/performers' self-birth.

The iconic DI PETSA drapery is taken in new directions this season. Featuring the classic Wetlook technique but in deep brown silk fabric. Velvet is used to create the "Broken drapery" dress which takes inspiration from the broken terracotta sculptures of women and goddesses found in Greek archaeological sites that are pieced together by archaeologists - mended memories.

The introduction of bridal this season is another crucial point. Silk flowers bloom through the drapery in the second look of the collection representing Spring. Later in the collection, we see a dip-dyed Wetlook as if the model stepped into a puddle of grey muddy water.

This season we worked with TomTex to create a custom leather design on vegan leather made out of mushrooms and food waste biomaterial-maker to create corsets in faux leather made out of mushrooms. She designed it to replicate the look of snake leather, fish scales and standard leather to produce a collage of various types of leather in one look.

The closing look is a silk chiffon-engulfed angel with wings made with corseting material. The show is live and narrated by Dimitra, the designer who is performing a theatrical performance on a rock in the middle of the catwalk interacting with the models.

Looking into female archetypes within Greek mythology - from the Mother/ Daughter, the Lover//the Temptress. The story of Persephone is one of a creation story - the tale of how the seasons came to be - an evolution of time and changing states - from the seasonal shift of Spring to Summer to Autumn, Winter, but also self-reflection and growth of Persephone's character - as she challenges the duality of being a devoted daughter to finding inner strength on a self-reflective journey to the underworld.

dipetsa.com