Del Core Pre-Fall 2022 Collection

While most designer mood boards tend to be covered in images of obscure artwork or cropped references to literary heroes (a recent trend), Daniel Del Core displays photos he has. taken in the Amazon of specimens of strange vegetation, rare flowers and intricate foliage from the underground botanical world.

Mushrooms, mycelium and algae occupy a prominent place as aesthetic models in what Del Core calls “mutant glamor”, its extravagant distillation of naturalia, elements of the fantastic genre and theatrical flourishes rendered by musical techniques. elaborate tailoring. “I can sit for hours in front of a flower and try to translate its shape into a silhouette, a fan-pleated ruffle or the altered proportion of a dress,” he said on a date. you in his Milan workshop, where young artisans and tailors are busy bringing his creations to life.

Del Core approached his first release before the fall as an exercise in reduction and brevity, toning down his flamboyance without deviating from the imaginative flair that defines his repertoire. The collection was called Abstract Zero, as if it were some sort of compendium or summary of the brand’s essentials, filtered from the runway and translated for everyday life. For example, a gathered rounded sleeve, which in the show had opera proportions, here looked softer on an elegant tailored coat or a knit mini dress. Fan-pleated details inspired by the fleshy petals of wild orchids found on a couture gown were given a subdued allure on a silver evening gown and flame red lace intarsia chiffon number. The red look was worn with an appropriate mutant face mask, which could have been created by experimental designer Neri Oxman’s Mediated Matter Research Group at MIT Media Lab; he also recalled the eerie glamor gestures of the late Alexander McQueen and would lean over Björk.

Mushrooms, which for a time had as a natural source from which to grow a sustainable alternative to animal leather, are one of the designer’s botanical obsessions, as they are symbols of metamorphosis and facilitators of transformation. Here, they figured as the main decorative motif of the collection, translated into a jacquard pattern on a sartorial bomber and reproduced on fine lace for a puffy dress, or else needled on lurex knit sweaters. Elsewhere, a vivid abstract pattern, printed on a vertically cut quilted coat or silk blouse with loose trailing panels gave the predominantly autumnal palette a kick.

With two promising collections under his belt, Del Core is refining his high-end vision and skills, which he honed while working in Beirut alongside Zuhair Murad and with Gucci’s Alessandro Michele as a VIP designer. Presenting a concise and tightly edited pre-fall collection (or Abstract, as he wants it to be called) seems like a wise move, not only from a business standpoint but also creatively, as it gives it space. to work on the catwalk collections. without having to compromise on their visual impact and virtuoso execution.