Imagined during lockdown, when everyone’s daily lives were on hold, Richard Malone’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection is a reflection on loungewear as statements of identity, a « rigorous extravagance » which screams both eveningwear and second skin garments that are made to give women comfort and poise. Malone drew inspiration primarily from two books which never left his side during the time of global self isolation: I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid and Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat. Two pieces that deal with contortion and curvature of time, subjects which seem quite fitting with the strange elastic days we were experiencing, never quite sure of what future days would bring. This reevaluation of time and surrealist view of our condition can be seen throughout the collection, in the XXL proportions, exaggerated shoulders, dramatic drapery and padded hips. As other designers this season, Richard Malone puts an emphasis on a certain sense of armor, to shield the body, protect it. A notion of care, self-preservation, that echoes what the world is going through.

Discover the video and lookbook of the S/S 2021 collection below.