The Tamesis
ArdAzAei founder Bahareh Ardakani has quietly been making ready-to-wear for several seasons. However, for this year’s Autumn/Winter Fashion Week, she made it more official, hosting a show in her fashion studio on rue Saint-Florentine.
“It’s all about making versatile pieces that can be layered and styled in different ways and reflect where high fashion is going,” Ardakani explained during the walkthrough. Echoing July’s couture show titled “The Folded Sea,” the tailored knitwear collection featured intricately designed gills, called fleurs-de-mer after sea anemones, that could be pulled side to side and swirl around the body.
Innovative knitwear is Ardakani’s latest obsession—no surprise, given her background in math and engineering—and she places a particular emphasis on using organic cashmere and virgin wool to create sculptural shapes with geometric ribbing. (Nearly half the products in the collection are GOTS-certified, as is her studio.) For this PFW debut, she opted for an understated luxe palette of beige, ocher, and black, with the occasional blue jacquard in tank tops and skirt suits. This unique, unique, travel-friendly road seemed worthy of further pursuit.
As her clients know her well, Aldakarni’s pants are of plain cut. Here she offers several examples, alongside coats and suits, of rigorous and somewhat complex geometric shapes that mimic the pentagonal structures of her couture. Evening wear included a short bustier dress in orange taffeta, the fabric squeaking and swirling around the body almost like water. Statement outerwear, including one in vegetable-tanned leather and another in beige wool, are intricately cut and pieced. The slant-toe stilettos are a signature of the brand. Now that Aldakarni has established her formal language, it will be interesting to see what happens when she relaxes a bit.
