Myth—and the myth of women. That was what Atlein’s Antonin Tron centered his excellent fall 2023 collection on. It mixed to convincing effect in an aquatic palette of blues, greens, lilacs and an ivory the color of breaking waves. There were crushed velvet bombers, sinuous ruched jersey skirts which swished the floor in their wake, molded to perfection pieces in black vegan leather, and one exquisitely worked tulle evening dress which twisted and turned all the way to the ground, a chunky crystal collar glittering away at the neck.
From plenty of other designers that statement about myth could come across as deftly crafted but actually utterly hollow. But this is Tron we’re talking about, someone as sensitive to how he ideates Atlein as he is committed to the making of it, which is to say, a lot. He has an exemplary hand when it comes to the manipulation of fabrics, particularly jersey; in an era when design has increasingly become about creative direction, an abstracted, conceptual way of working, Tron is an old school kind of guy, starting with the fabric draped directly onto a dress form, and his technical skills were certainly well to the fore with this collection.
The notion of myth came from one of Tron’s deep reading dives, where he alighted on the figure of Gradiva, a mythological female figure from the 20th century writings of Wilhelm Jensen, and inspired by a Roman relief, (and mythologized further after being lauded by Freud). Before long, he was also looking at other ancient statues and reliefs from around the world. And that got him to his second thought: How fashion mythologizes who it’s actually making clothes for, a fantasy of why they might want them, and how they might wear them.
Of late Tron has been focused on parlaying his craft into creating things which will make a real and meaningful connection with the women wearing them. A deepening of the intimate and empathetic way he thinks about designing for their bodies, especially given that increasingly women are (rightly) considering the only gaze that matters is the one reflected back at them when they look in the mirror. That approach has only taken on more importance for Tron as his label increasingly draws high profile figures to it. And judging by the sight of the fantastic singer and fashion plate Aya Nakamura arriving to take her seat at today’s show, looking sensational in Atlein tulle cut to hug every curve—not to mention commanding attention in the room—plenty more of them will be following suit.
