Di Du continues to soak up the culture of France, and it is rubbing off as she shows a more romantic side to her elevated Goth aesthetic. This season it was André Gide’s 1909 novel “Strait Is the Gate,” and its story of misunderstanding in relationships, as well as a recent breakup, that fired her imagination.
She channeled architectural elements, lace details and vintage floral prints into her presentation and designs.
Increasingly, the Paris-based, Chinese designer wants to take a pluri-disciplinary approach, and has enjoyed moving away from the strictures of the runway format. “I wanted to create a space that is more than just fashion, also art and literature, music and emotions,” she explained. “I see myself as an artist.”
For her presentation, the staging as such was just as important as the clothes themselves. A woody fragrance wafted through the space, where props included sheet music, an old framed photograph, flickering candles and a multitude of old doors, their paint peeling. The soundtrack spanned from Erik Satie to the pattering of rain.
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A pale tulle full-skirted dress with a floral motif was dip-dyed to look as if it was stained with blood and embroidered with a motif more familiar on furniture hardware. “I’m obsessed with the door handles here in Paris,” Di Du explained. “I would love to design furniture.”
One model wore a blue nylon slip skirt and shirt styled over a bralette on which the nipples looked to be embroidered with blood too. A broderie anglaise headscarf was styled as a barely there top, with a matching frilly skirt, while a cropped perfecto jacket was given frothy puff sleeves and worn with leather-topped pants laced below the knee. It was girly, risqué and dark all at once, although there was less of the brooding drama of previous collections.
