Having dived deep into the sea to emerge in pearls for spring 2024, Caroline Engelgaar and her team at Mark Kenly Domino Tan took to the skies this season. Oh, to fly away! It’s the ultimate escapist fantasy. “You’re allowed to dream,” for the eight minute duration of a show, “even though the world is fucking hard right now,” the designer said backstage. “Some days you’re just like, ‘What are we doing in fashion?’ But for me, it’s very much about courage.”
It makes sense then that Amelia Earhart was one of her references. The daring aviator, whose plane may just have been found 16,000 feet deep in the Pacific, connects to the airy theme and to the menswear aspects of this women’s collection, especially in the form of aviator jackets. Elsewhere, the Byronesque bows on shirts and pants-tucked-into-boots styling conjured characters from Tolstoy. The setting of the show, Hotel d’Angleterre, which dates to 1775, also influenced the direction of the design; the smokings looked especially appropriate in the space.
It was a short jump from sartorialism to thinking about classics, like trench coats and LBDs. The brand’s going-out dresses were offered in a variety of colors with angular origami-like tops (in line with the jutting angles seen at Dior couture). In contrast to the crisp folds on those frocks, there were a number of ensembles that had a soft, blanket-wrapped look.
A color-blocked knit dress, ivory at front and blue at back, somehow recalled a Doric column. Pillars, sculpture, classics—designers are grasping on to “constants” as the world continues to fragment. As Engelgaar grows in confidence, so do her clothes, which this season have subtle swagger that should set this brand’s reputation aloft.
