For Spring Summer 2023 Womenswear, Paula Canovas del Vas pushes through the limitations of imagery, inviting us to experience her eighth collection through a kaleidoscope of sensory encounters that hold the body, as much as our gaze. Fashion, design and architecture, often appears as visual muzak––bereft oftexture, taste and aroma––it is seen, but no longer felt.
The season, animistic, sculptural, eloquent, begins with Canovas del Vas reinterpreting deadstock fabric––the essential medium for which the designer has become known––to create shape-shifting silhouettes that cling-to, encase and embrace the protagonist.
For Canovas del Vas Spring Summer 2023, colour demands our attention with biophilic intensity; knits reminiscent of sea urchin flesh, fuchsia blooming up jeans, and the luminously hued antennae of a sea anemone, diffused over a denim jacket. Form reads like an exoskeleton, impulsive, defiant, erogenous: skirts and leggings rising like jellyfish mid-propulsion, jackets enveloping limbs like one of Cronenberg’s apparatus’, shoulder and head pieces that refuse taming, and the teeth of zippers exchanged for elastic—anthropomorphic, empathetic, thrilling.
This is all balanced upon a series of the designers signature diablo horned heels, with an effortlessness rarely found outside of nature.
Canovas del Vas’ collection touches the skin and the mind, literally. It is living, it wants to be worn, and to return the protagonist to a more sensual state of being.
ABOUT Paula Canovas del Vas
Paula Canovas del Vas is the Spanish-born, London-based designer behind the eponymous label established in 2018, after graduating from the Central Saint Martins BA and MA Fashion, completed with the support of the Stella McCartney Scholarship.
Her debut AW18 Central Saint Martins runway show immediately garnered attention, with the introduction of the devil-toed ‘Diablo Shoes’ and accessories, first available at Dover Street Market Ginza.
Paula’s youthful designs are built around a rich array of references and craft techniques, research and experiments with shapes, textures and fabrics; as well as cross-disciplinary collaborations with artists. All collections are made using primarily deadstock and recycled materials.
Paula was a semi-finalist of the LVMH Prize 2022 and named by the New York Times an emerging designer to watch. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Dazed and i-D. Prior to launching the label, Paula was a creative consultant for Kanye West, following positions at Maison Margiela under John Galliano and Gucci.
Today the label is present at over 30 stockists worldwide including MAXFIELD (Los Angeles), SSENSE, GR8 (Tokyo), Browns (London), International Gallery Beams (Tokyo) and MACHINE-A (London).
All images Paula Canovas Del Vas Spring Summer 2023 bg Paula Canovas
PR Agency Michele Montagne
Tag: Paulacanovasdelvas SS23 Spring Summer 2023 SS2023 READY-TO-WEAR Paris fashion Week jtdapperfashionweek