16Arlington’s Marco Capaldo has conquered the dark and now he’s looking to the light by adding color to his spring 2025 collection.
Shades of butter yellow, sherbet orange and mint green were just the boost for a Sunday afternoon at the Royal Academy, where the show space was littered with white confetti and palm tree sculptures created in collaboration with young British artist Jesse Pollock.
Capaldo wanted to stimulate the senses — the same way he was moved when watching Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Skin I Live In.”
He took in the film’s use of lighting and the quirkily placed artworks to conjure suede chocolate trousers; silk cami tops that reflected the warm light in the room, and fringing in tints of red and acidic yellow that captured the same joy found in feathered carnival costumes.
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Each season Capaldo digs deeper with a layering story. This time sultry open shirts seduced with light button-down cardigans from which a bralette peeked out; fringing flashed under the free-flowing skirts, and swimsuits were layered beneath dresses that were scrunched up like a sarong.
“It just felt like I was suddenly facing the sun and it’s that type of energy that I suppose I’ve been yearning for a long time,” said the designer in a preview.
Capaldo lost his partner both in life and work, Kikka Cavenati, in 2021 and his following collections have edged on darkness as a means of working through his emotions.
The collection showed there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and it was heartwarming to the audience to know that the designer is healing. “I wanted something that felt good, from the soundtrack to the lighting — you don’t know if [the 16Arlington woman] is entering at dusk or drawn,” he added.
Capaldo used this season to cleverly pepper in more of the brand’s expanding separates, from suede flat shoes to beaded miniskirts and sleek denim jackets that didn’t look like denim.
Like the Boy George soundtrack “Generations of Love,” Capaldo has much more to say and everyone seemed to be charmed or tapping their foot to the beat of his vision.
