4 of The Best Fashion Collaborations of February 2022 | Power Pairs
From Balmain X Barbie to Loewe X Spirited Away, here are a few fun partnerships that caught our eye this month…
Fashion has become a bit of a tag-team sport over the past decade. It seems like outside the box collaborations are the new business model for the industry. Here are a few fun partnerships that caught our eye this month…
4 of The Best Fashion Collaborations of February 2022
Loewe X Spirited Away
Designer Jonathan Anderson has long been a supporter of the arts across all mediums and his latest Loewe collaboration is no exception. Back at the start of 2021, Loewe launched its first capsule collection with the famed Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. It featured characters from artist and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro on a selection of pieces. And now the Spanish fashion house has turned to Ghibli once again, but this time it took on the beloved film Spirited Away and gave it the Loewe treatment. This means Zeniba, No-Face, Aogaeru, Haku and Chihiro are transformed into textural clothing and three-dimensional accessories in the label’s trademark shapes.
The tunnel might have led Chihiro to a mysterious town, but this collection makes you want to dive deep into the spirit realm where these unforgettable creatures reside and carry them with you back into your reality.
Balmain X Barbie
It’s hard to think of anyone that has played a bigger role in inspiring budding fashion designers than Barbie. Multiple generations of creatives have turned to her to act as their first fit model. But very few have been able to recreate that experience on a grander scale. Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, was more than up for the challenge. Not only did he transform Barbie into another member of his Balmain Army, he made her part of a more diverse world.
“Barbie and Balmain are embarking upon a distinctly multicultural, inclusive and always joy-filled adventure,” said Olivier about the collaboration. It’s a match-up that sees the brand’s trademark Labyrinth pattern motif set in iconic Barbie pink, its quintessential marinière cut in pink and white stripes and its bold accessories have been given a Mattel make-over. Come on, Barbie, let’s go party.
MAX&Co X Margherita Maccapani Missoni
Get ready for the latest drop from Max Mara’s &Co. design partnership. Titled Shall We?, it features a line-up of outfits created with Margherita Maccapani Missoni. Inspired by Margherita’s vision of who she was when she was 17 years old, the name of the collection connects back to an ethos the Italian fashion house scion used to adhere to in her youth.
“It is the motto with which my friends and I looked at life during our wonderful 20s. It means – if there is no good reason to say ‘no’, the answer to every new idea or possibility is ‘yes, let’s go for it!’ This is how I approached this unexpected collaboration proposal when MAX&Co. contacted me: ‘why not?!,” said Margherita.
The pieces, which include denim trousers with appliqué daisies growing from the seams, colourful bloom-printed short dresses and bright striped separates, emanate a sense of youthful guilelessness and childlike innocence. The ’90s also had their role to play in the look and feel of the collection, with a nod to the eclectic and the artisanal.
“I was fascinated to discover that MAX&Co. was born as a retail concept store, pioneeringly focused on individual styling, putting the brand in a sort of dialogue with customers, since the very beginning. So, I decided to work on what the brand already was, on what it meant to me, and to give my own personal re-interpretation of it; an open attitude and a joyful approach towards life,” explained Margherita. Mission accomplished.
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accomplished.
Marina Rinaldi X Marco De Vincenzo
Italian designer Marco de Vincenzo travelled to Dubai for the first time to celebrate the arrival of his spring/summer 2022 capsule collection with Marina Rinaldi. It is the second season that the designer joined forces with the brand and he was in town to take meetings with top clients and press at the company’s flagship store in the Dubai Mall.
“I wanted to create a collection that was all about reality, daily life but with a pop of colour and a bit of glitter too. As a way of having a touch of something that still makes you want to dream. So it’s not a red carpet collection or a classic day collection, it’s something that can move easily from day to night. It’s a bit of both,” said Marco.
Curvy model Precious Lee was the face of the advertising campaign for the first drop of the collaboration, which included a colourful dégradé coat that graced more than one cover story this past season. Its success has helped to generate even more international interest in the designer, who is known for his love of Lurex, rainbow hues and sparkling details.
But what is on Marco’s radar at the moment? He wants to gain a better understanding of the region’s style. “The UAE is so young. Not only because it’s only 50 years old, but it is also the people. It’s full of young girls and boys. There is an energy here that I don’t feel in Italy at the moment. We don’t have local signature pieces in Italy. We lost everything in terms of fashion. History is everywhere but not in the clothes. But here…it is.”
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