Bird-like attributes have been cropping up all over Paris this season, but few have as clear a claim to the motif as Bahareh Ardakani, who explored it to striking effect in her recent couture collection, “The Nightingale’s Rose.”
“It takes time to develop these techniques, so you want them to have a longer life, and then see how you can simplify or change things to have a different type of silhouette,” the Swedish-Iranian designer offered.
Whereas her couture was bound up in corsetry and lace, here the theme loosened up in jersey, featherweight chiffon and poplin. Streamlining didn’t necessarily mean diluting, however. In the salon of ArdAzAei’s Paris showroom, a grouping of intricately gathered “day cocktail” dresses came in sunset hues of red, apricot and orange or an earthy sage, their pleats, ruching and smocking evoking Ardakani’s passion for gemology, while the stylized curve of a bird’s wing accentuated the hips. Further along, a couple of suits in earth-toned silk looked polished and elegant.
But where this fledgling brand is gaining particular traction is in knitwear, here shown in body-skimming layers with geometric ribbing and ruffled hems. Those pieces were popular with customers at the recent Monaco Yacht Show, the designer reported. “It’s about easy traveling and multi-dimensional transparency” she said of one silk jacquard knit, explaining how she arranges sheer and dense sections in such a way that the wearer can “just throw it on” without worrying about wrinkles, or revealing too much.
Ardakani is a romantic at heart, but there’s substance here too: 67% of this collection was in GOTS-certified materials, her largest percentage to date—and she doesn’t intend to stop there. With time and consistency, she’s developing a language that’s truly hers, and a following that will be able to take a closer look at the Harrod’s Penthouse next month, and at trunk shows in New York and LA after that.
