For all its mythology, Paris Fashion Week can feel like a rotating billboard for the same luxury powerhouses. Dior here, Louis Vuitton there, the occasional viral runway moment in between. And yet the week still leaves room for contemporary brands operating on a different scale entirely. This season, that means Kimhēkim and Kiko Kostadinov.
Kimhēkim
Anniversaries in fashion tend to trigger the same reflex, open the archives and start digging. At Paris Fashion Week, that instinct is practically institutional at this point. Ten years in, Kimhēkim had plenty to look back on. The other current fixation seems to be texture, preferably the hairy kind. The collection, titled Enter the Spectrum, had plenty of both. Braided, in a very particular shade of pink unicorns would probably approve of, clipped everywhere, or hanging loosely from sleeves and boots. Whatever wasn’t hairy came tailored, ruffled, or decorated with alarmingly large pearls and bows. Labels too, one of the final looks was almost entirely covered in them. Not a bad way to mark a decade.
Kiko Kostadinov
Where there isn’t a special event marking a show, inspiration can come from anywhere, even London’s Wood Green wildlife. The Fanning sisters made a quick stop there months ago, watching the birdwatchers. “We were maybe thinking about the watchers and the watched,” the duo told Vogue. But the whole bird situation was probably given away by the huge nestbox the models walked out of, thanks to the artist Oscar Tuazon. What followed looked like a forest exploded in a lab. Feathered textures met drawstring pockets and hybrid sneakers, and it felt right. In case you ever get bored of humans, the Asics tabi collaboration will handle the feathered ones.
