Experiments in femininity: Marios Schwab

For spring 2012 Marios Schwab, the adherent of strong and powerful feminity, managed to introduce the contrasting division of women – independent on the outside yet accentuted with softness and intellect at the roots. As he explains of the collection: “I have been thinking about this really strong woman. I want to translate that in a way that is all about an independent exterior but at the same time kind of soft and still very feminine. Ultimately the woman that I like is an intellectual, that is my character and the person I am looking to dress. Someone that believes in fashion and in pure design.”

Schwab wants to emphesize the necessity of pure design, that is why he puts an effort on experimental transformation of classic silhouettes. The distinctive phenomenon of the collection forms optical illusions, paying an intimate tribute to body as the surface of the ensemble.

The idea of body conscious, classic silhouettes merges with an innovative mirage of prints and interplay of black and white creating a chiaroscuro-like effect. That contrast of dark and light is twisted in slight rock’n’roll whimsy with the help of fetish leather details, panelled seams, and mesh nets.

The collection is very coherent starting from mesh innovtion, enriched with crytals and completed with ballet pink, orange, creamy natural hues, powdery blues and off-whites or black with lilac. The great number of ladylike, 40s and 50s dresses are based on the Audrey Hepburn prototype. But with the touch of Schwab they turn into pieces with quite an athletic and smart edge. In one sentence – the new intoduction of classic female form.