The new Swedish luxury womenswear brand ArdAzAei presented its first couture runway show, ‘Midnight in the Persian Garden’, in the Salle des Textiles of Paris’ Musée des Arts et Métiers. As earthly manifestations of an imaginary paradise, where architecture and horticulture were brought together into meticulous perfection, the Persian garden is the point of inspiration for ArdAzAei’s debut couture collection. An evening wear collection of red-carpet gowns and cocktail dresses, tailoring, jewelery and accessories, the collection sees a recurring reference to the Persian Rose and the Parrot Tulip, with the flowers informing silhouettes, three-dimensional sculptural forms, and elaborately embroidered jacquard. Sharp tailoring in the form of contemporary women’s suits see sleek jackets and flared pants with hypnotic floral patterning evoking the undulating chaos of nature’s rhythms. Another key theme running throughout the collection is the dynamic between mathematic forms of composition—a key element of Persian garden architecture—and the craft of the handmade, evident in crystal sequins custom-cut to the lines of the ArdAzAei logo, designed by M/M (Paris), which are then hand-embroidered to create organic forms. The dynamic is also evident in an evening dress which sees 60 meters of fabric pleated and cut into geometric shapes appliqued to its top, while 100 hand-painted pleated fans go into the construction of its flared skirt. ArdAzAei uses organic textiles certified through the Global Organic Textile Standard.