“Just random enough,” was how Natalia Alaverdian justified the “Japanese Africa or African Japan” direction she pursued for her men’s range, which once again accompanied her Resort collection. But this could just as easily describe A.W.A.K.E.’s overall identity—even though it falls short of describing her sweeping yet precise sense of volume, which was in full effect this season.
The designer’s twofold source material allowed her to experiment with practical iterations of kimono sleeves such as the snaps on a reversible puffer jacket, as well as dapper stylings popular among men in the cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa in the Congo. Whereas men’s pants were sometimes shown with skirt overlays, women’s skirts occasionally featured a shirt draped over a top thanks to buttonholes on the neckline that attached to the hemline (see Looks 2 and 36). Those not intimidated by the extra material get a well-developed two-for-one look. Still, feeling daunted by her creations (as in, how you wear them; whether you get swallowed up in them; what impression they project) is understandable. Perhaps it helps to know that Alaverdian is so petite of frame and mild of manner that she somehow draws on these aspects to resolve her designs. Plus, she inevitably makes room for fun, which comes through in the dinosaur doodle covering a men’s shirt; the way in which she’ll show a women’s shirt backward and twisted as though perfectly normal; or even just the single punch of safety orange as a sporty parka. But it’s her recurring use of colorless optical patterns that gives strong coherence to these two collections, and when the shapes are simplified—which might include an oversize linen coat, a funnel-neck summer-weight top, a crisp chocolatey redingote, or the pants version of a skort—the wearability becomes evident.
Over the course of the walk-throughs, Alaverdian mentioned Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jane Eyre as loose references for a kimono shirt with a skinny white tie and a double-layered tulle blouse covered in tonal dots (the dress version had a haunting allure). In September, when she mounts her first runway show in London, her knack for parlaying such diverse references into alternative forms will have the stage it deserves.