For the pre-fall season, designer Bach Mai looked to influences past and present to infuse his collection with intriguing new ideas.
“I started by being obsessed with this new K-pop girl group Newjeans. It was about taking this younger energy with shorter skirts and a youthful vibe,” he said during a preview, adding the uptick of shorter silhouettes and separates also resulted from retail and customer feedback. “But of course, not all youthful because this is The Tudors,” he added, referencing the collection’s jewel tone hues, velvet styles and Tudor-inspired silhouettes, like a boxy cropped cape worn with a corseted, mini version of his volant baby doll skirts.
The new ideas felt fresh from day to night in the form of pearl-embellished black velvet tearaway basketball shorts with leather trim, coolly paired with strong corsets with mesh panel sides (the idea was also translated into white denim and black organza) or signature poufed cocktail dresses layered atop long, slim bias slip skirts (which he described as “gala to after party,” as the airy skirt could easily be removed and “rolled up into a ball to throw into a bag”).
The designer also referenced the swirled Bacchus works of Cy Twombly and dimensional layering of Italian glass artist Lino Tagliapetra, which he interpreted into youthful painterly plaid patterns, best seen through a sweet bias slip comprised of double-layer striped dresses that evoked the feeling of a “living plaid” motif in movement.
Speaking to the season’s updated slipdresses, which were cut from a single piece of fabric and draped to spiral around the body in midi and floor-length renditions, Mai said, “We looked a lot at Madeleine Vionnet this season and spiral cutting.”
The idea was also rendered into little bias spiral skirts on corset minidresses, inspired by the underpinning layers of ‘50s Dior dresses. Overall, Mai’s pre-fall collection served as a strong extension to his dressy line.
