NICCOLÒ PASQUALETTI SS24 at Paris Fashion Week

NICCOLÒ PASQUALETTI SS24 / Spring Summer 2024 at Paris Fashion Week

In the white space, you see things for what they are, and you forget where they came from.

In such a place, one thing easily changes into another. A simple evening dress, a classic Italian suit, caught in a moment of transmutation, evaporates into a cloud. A swimsuit melts into the water. Each detail, the buttons, the zippers, the stitching are disturbed by this process.

Yet still some recognisable pieces pierce through the fog, only slightly obfuscated by it. Instead, these garments conceal their distortions, at least at first. Drawstrings, secreted in garments, are able to totally transform the silhouette. A free-flowing cape cinches itself to form a monolithic column. Like protective clothing, when pulled tightly, it forms a seal with the body. These fastenings reappear, in the shoes, and in the hoods which hide within the collars of jackets.

Here, there is no night and day, everything happens at the same time. Formal or informal come together in unexpected ways. Pockets multiply across the collection giving each look a newly practical dimension regardless of the occasion.

The barrier between the natural and the synthetic starts to break down: a flower with no scent, tarpaulin fraying like straw. In the confusion materials become mixed up: leather treated to look like foil, or cotton canvas, which almost looks like cardboard. From these different elements comes a collage of pastels against neutrals.

Then, laid on top of everything, silver elements, like runes. Their origins are obscure: perhaps a neck-lace or a mask or something whose purpose is lost. As they hang from the garments, they reflect everything: each colour, texture, and shape within or without. Identity is somewhere to be found here, amidst the complexities.