No one does it like Di Petsa, and this season the Greek designer once again did not disappoint. Her FW25 collection, “Reflections of Desire”, explored female sexuality in its many forms. And with a hype cast of Mia Khalifa, Ayra Starr and Eva Gutowski, Di Petsa really came with the embodiments of female desire and empowerment.
“This year I’ve started writing a book which is all about female exploration and desire,” designer Dimitra Petsa told us backstage. “I was analysing and researching the mythology of women and female sexuality in ancient Greek mythology and also contemporary Greek culture and through that I started creating this collection – which is why you can see a lot of book pages and various characters in the show that are meant to be the writers and some are meant to be the muses.”
The usual siren-esque aesthetic of Di Petsa took a different turn this season. The designer followed a darker, almost vampiric, witchy path – she played with tailoring and fangs for her “writer” looks, but went back to her celestial whites for her “muses”. The beauty looks were as fairy-like as always, her signature draped wet-look took form in tailoring and new takes of bridalwear with subversive, figure-hugging silhouettes, lace detailing and a soft, ethereal vibe. “I was listening to a lot of church music and music with no words,” Dimitra said, and we could feel that with the spiritual energy in which her dark and light aesthetics merged.
Menswear (which debuted last season) was reimagined from the female gaze: archetypical gods and warriors in armour, poets in lacey tailoring holding flowers, an angel in wet-look wings. Dimitra’s for the girls.
The collection was a poem come to life: with her fusion of current culture and ancient Greek mythology, Di Petsa just gets how to create a beautiful narrative. And she knows how to end it with drama: the Greek syrtos dance-style final walkout merged all her characters together, linking hands for the finalé. We look forward to the book.
Featured images Danai Dana for Culted©
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