Kiko Kostadinov’s Fall 2019 womenswear collection is the high fashion equivalence of an art project collage. It’s too much of a mish-mash of incomplete ideas rushed and converged together in a weird attempt to make something new. In all fairness, there was a lot of new ideas in the mix—some creative while others were downright confusing—but instead of a harmonic balance, this was more of a disruptive cacophony of random colors and different fabrics. Unfortunate even, as what might have looked like a twisted sporty take on bourgeoisie dressing became a brash presentation of half-assed thoughts. The twin design duo behind this collection, Laura and Deanna Fanning, are undeniably creative but their construction skills, at least for us, seem questionable. A lot of patchworked details looked unnecessary while the color combinations they assembled were too garish for our own eyes. Then there’s their treatment on the fabrics—why on earth did they think ruching nylon would look good? This is only their second collection for Kiko Kostadinov, and if they want to, at the very least, go near the level of design and construction skills of the namesake designer, they have a lot of evolving (and work) to do!
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
