Choosing to show presentation-style, with models leaning against concrete pillars, Standing Ground debuted its first Fashion East collection, dubbed Úr – which is an old Irish word for soil. In his own show notes, designer Michael Stewart speaks about spiritual and ancestral artefacts, and the clothes embodied this ancient, neolithic feel: evening gowns in lime, scarlet, canary, and earthen brown jerseys in heavy drapes and slashed layers. Singular hip pads and vine-like roping coiled around the torso, transforming models into regal statues plucked from some kind of mediaeval fantasy saga. Stewart says that it’s in these lines, seams, and bands, that “one reflects on ancient migration routes” – looking at the body as if it were an Irish landscape of storybooks and mythologies.
Photography Christina Fragkou
