After all the razzle-dazzle confection of a (pretty darn good) Milan season, watching this strong Damir Doma collection was like embarking on a kale-heavy cleanse: The sight of it isn’t obviously satiating, but it sure generates a benevolent glow.
Why? Well, Doma deals in spiritually nutritious fashion that is properly feminocentric—unlike some houses that stick their models in thigh-highs and miniskirts and then call it “strong.” He consults his models—not all of whom are professional—on what they want to wear and how they want to wear it. His vision might be a little postapocalyptic (especially if that apocalypse is the end of the boob tube), but it is not sensationalist.
The music came via Killing Sound, a Bristolian quartet that performed a spoken word New Order cover to beguiling abstract electronica while sitting with their mixers on a carpeted table behind the runway. Boiled wool/cotton mix denim was the template fabric for Doma’s long dresses with quilted obi-belt detailing at the arm and strapping at the waistline. The designer played a lot of masculine-feminine ping-pong here, so you’d see a crunchy-texture tabard of a liquid silk split long-hem shirt over a crunchy-again trouser. He fastened pochettes and little chains of round stone beads to the clothes with gleaming metal clips, and lined his gray and oat–flecked black boiled wool rib knits with more lines of contrasting metal. In silk crepe or wool jacquard, Doma’s Antoni Tàpies–inspired brushstroke refrain traced gentle nonspecific patterns across his voluminous silhouettes. His most successful was a wide pant/silk tier-hem shirt/full jacket combination that seemed both street ready yet still specifically in the domain of Doma. This designer is an acquired taste worth cultivating.