The fall 2024 collection is Bahareh Ardakani's third spin on the ready-to-wear wheel, and it's just starting to hit its stride.
The Swedish designer sticks to strong shapes and impeccable tailoring in her couture collections, which she shows on the runway every July. Her shoulders have become a signature, and here she wore them to crisp effect as she enlarged the sleeves to “Poor Things” proportions in covetable outerwear.
It had all the drama and none of the damage, as the entire collection was Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified. Ardakani is obsessed with the little things, right down to the biodegradable fusion in the linings and all the leather was vegetable tanned. Dedication is in the detail.
He defined it as “new luxury.”
“It's a little private,” he said. “[Clients] We care about the look of the piece, the way it's shaped and looking great, but we also like attention to all the details. This woman wants to know what she is buying.”
Ardakani set out to create the most sustainable collection she could, which was part of the reason it's been a slow process. It was his first collection to achieve certification on all pieces and this is the first season in which he welcomes buyers.
It was a stylized, mostly muted palette of black and tan, with a few pops of her signature jewel-toned purple over an organic silk bow blouse and a dark denim duo with a statement side-zip collar. His modern take on the tuxedo jacket was made of jacquard with an asymmetrical hem.
Pleats were also a staple when it came to building structure into a garment, and she used them on architectural jackets cinched at the waist and on the back of trench coats to create volume that fell just right.
There was nothing precious here: it was a power outfit for the eco-conscious woman. Suddenly, the supply chain becomes sexy.
