The pandemic has put us on sloth mode—slow, circumspect, tiptoeing au ralenti around myriads of rules and regulations. “I must confess that somehow I quite enjoyed the slowing down,” David Koma said over Zoom. But his love for adrenaline-fueled motorsports got the better of him; speed is really what sets his fashion pulse racing, and he made it quite clear for pre-fall.
Koma likes it sexy, skintight, and bold. His style has been unapologetically assertive since the beginning. No languid bias-cut or billowy numbers here; instead, he references strong-willed, über-confident females with a penchant for risk-taking performances—like Adeline and Augusta Van Buren, the intrepid suffragettes who in 1916 embarked on a solo trip across America on motorbike to campaign for women’s rights. Their pioneering spirit and scandalous attire of leather riding breeches inspired Koma to give the collection a gutsy, brash turn.
High-slit minidresses in flame red or carbon black nappa leather looked as tight as membranes, with tire-track-embossed motifs spiraling around asymmetrical hems or sliced into bandeau tops. Blending couture finishes into sculptural outerwear, a structured oversized biker jacket in black leather was the collection’s hero, hand embroidered with tiny crystals on 3D protective pads. Proposed in a scarlet red version, it introduced fire and a feel for danger as collaterals to the idea of speed, translated into a blazing-fire-printed mesh dress or into flame-shaped cutouts around the décolletage of a shapely black number, as short as can possibly be. Pushing the danger vibe a little further, crystal-embroidered crocodiles (“slow moving but unexpectedly fast when they’re attacked,” as Koma explained) made appearances crossing bodices or crawling along high-slit, sexy black numbers.
It goes without saying that hefty doses of self-confidence are required to wear David Koma’s alluring pieces, as the look of Spanish singer Rosalía, one of his muses, makes abundantly clear. “You just need good posture and the right energy,” he said. Surely the Koma girl is anything but Koma-tose.
