Sci-fi, mutations, metamorphosis and discovery are the concepts of this new stunning collection.
Photo by Marco Lorè
One of the most captivating and engaging fashion shows of this latest edition of Milan Fashion Week A/W 2023-2024 was undoubtedly that one by the German fashion designer, yet based in Milan, Daniel Del Core.
Del Core is a fashion house founded in Milan in 2020, and the first collection has been presented in February 2021.
He integrates made-to-measure designs with ready-to-wear, creating uniquely feminine pieces that marry the flowing and the architectural.
An idea of mutant glamor is conveyed throughout, brought on everyday territory in the selection of pieces that makes up for abstract, the pre-collection offer.
For this A/W edition of Milan Fashion Week, the fashion designer showcased the collection "Embers Bloom" and Daniel Del Core himself explains how the idea originated and evolved:
Photos by Marco Lorè
“As a lover of sci-fi, my mind was ablaze with the idea of mutation and the potential for new forms that emerge from the ashes.
Del Core's vision transcends traditional standards, showcasing the unique features that make us who we are, with a fiery passion that is, I hope, contagious.
I explore the world around me as an endless source of inspiration.
On a hiking trip to the Gate of the Arctic in Alaska, I was struck by the power of fire in the wilderness, and my mind went off.
I conceived this collection as a fantasy that celebrates individuality, creativity, and beauty that blooms from the ashes of the norm.”
Photos by Marco Lorè
"Every piece in this collection builds up to a journey of metamorphosis and discovery. Textures grow on the body, morph around it, swarm and bloom with life.
Black is a whole spectrum in this fantasy of mutation: I worked on the way texture and light play one with the other. Burnt tree bark has been fashioned into fabric, and cut into shapely tailoring: a new form of beautiful life growing out of the ashes of destruction.”
Photos by Marco Lorè
“Each piece is crafted with exquisite detail.
My aim is to empower women through beauty and the unexpected.
Curves, straight lines, sculpted contours, tactile surfaces all build a language of seductive transformation.
The layers of the garments peel off like strata, with hooks that allow one to further open, or play with forms.
For me this is a way of revealing new shapes that symbolize the cycle of life.
My vision is a fusion of classic and futuristic elements.
Using the means of the atelier, I explored the idea of mutation in many different ways, be it delicate embroidery as tufty as moss, or evolutive, liquid draping that changes around the body.
When I encountered Sunburst Lichen - Xanthoria Parietina - on the rocks above the Arctic Circle, I immediately thought that bright and vivid explosion of colour that looked as though it were still in the process of combusting could turn into something beautiful in the atelier: an embroidery on a sculpted dress, a jacquard texture on a coat.
It’s as though surfaces are alive.”
Photos by Marco Lorè
“Draping and sculpting are central in my work: a glorification of femininity and the female form that takes either fluid or structured forms.
In this collection texture is central: burnt, intense and tactile, it adds another layer to the story.
In exploring mutation, I wanted to celebrate diversity and juxtapose the organic and the lab-like.
Latex, hence, is a surgical second skin, probably a mutant body, upon which lichen grows in the form of embroidery.”
In some creations of Del Core brand, we at U.T.M. have also detected references to German expressionist cinema.
In particular, the film "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang came to our mind.
Photos by Marco Lorè
Photo by Marco Lorè
Discover more on delcore.com