Ashley Williams took a break from London Fashion Week this season due to an unexpected health issue. So it was a pleasant surprise to find the young designer well-rested and surrounded by her biggest collection yet at the London Showrooms in Paris this morning. Dressed in one of her new patchwork emoji mohair sweaters and a romantic full-skirted dress printed with Roman statues, Williams epitomized the tongue-in-cheek energy of her brand, where high and low culture butt up against each other. There was a smorgasbord of good-taste-bad-taste references in the new collection, many plucked from the designer’s archive, including the Playboy motif and an airbrush painted rendering of Venus de Milo that appeared on faded jeans and fringed tees. Williams’s adorable pet dog Didi also got the airbrush treatment, appearing on the brand’s new corsets. Made in bubblegum pink, optic white, and black, they were a genius twist on Vivienne Westwood’s waist-whittling Renaissance art pieces of the ’90s that have recently become wildly popular all over again thanks to high-profile collectors like FKA Twigs.
Williams has been exploring the idea of evening in the last few seasons, and her marabou-feathered party dresses came with an appealing dose of wit: think, a life-sized airbrushed poodle portrait. If girls just want to have fun with fashion, then Williams has the right sense of what that looks like for millennial and Gen Z women. Her best-selling diamanté slogan barrettes have been copied the world over, and her latest offering of accessories is bound for global success too. After all, what cool girl could possibly resist the charm of her new “best friends” mini bag, airbrushed as it is with Didi’s puppy dog face.
