Ester Manas Show of Affection
Review of Ester Manas Fall 2024 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
THE THEME
Not enough credit is given to designers who decide to take a break and return to the fashion week fold with both their creativity and sanity intact. As instead of praising the move, there are often murmurs around why a brand has skipped a season – are they going under, have they run out of financial backers, were they unable to complete the collection in time. An absence is always viewed as suspicious, and if it lasts too long there is the danger of slipping into irrelevancy. Another one of the million-and-one ways in which the industry needs to evolve. But not so for the team behind Ester Manas – Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre – primarily because what their brand represents is the sort of in-your-face change that the industry needs to be confronted with in order to continue to have the conversation around inclusivity.
Being one of only a handful of brands to take representation seriously, their impact cannot be underestimated. As taking just one season off will often severely skew the numbers when analysing size inclusivity across the season. That is real brand impact, and others who claim to be for all, or designing for the everyday (which you would assume includes everyone) need to relook at their casting choices once again, and question where they’re lacking, and more importantly why they’re lacking.
Ester Manas return was all about those who have made the brand what it is. And in a love letter to them, the team placed cards on each show-goers seats which featured a different graphic iteration of the words ‘Missed You’. In their absence they used the time to re-group and expand the Ester Manas wardrobe, which now combines three distinct lines of lingerie-inspired looks – the Hot Line, cold weather essentials such as teddy furs and bomber jackets – the Cold Line, and to “smooth things down” according to today’s show notes – the Jersey line. Through this expansion, there was a further amplification of how a brand can design clothes that can cover, enhance, and amplify, and give each wearer the audacity and freedom to wear their clothes as a second skin.
Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre
THE BUZZWORDS
Audacity to amplify, magnified extravagance, essentials for all
THE SHOWSTOPPER
Look # 22
Proving that cut-outs can be for all body shapes, Ester Manas knitted dress features suggestive slits across the side and bottom of the bust in a show of defiance that will be welcomed by the fans of their brand.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
The mesh is part of our DNA, we’ve done it ruched, but now we decided to make coats and pants. We wanted to create a new kind of fur, and its still from Ester Manas but now its warm and comfy, but its also sexy…it was inspired by the underskirt of the French cancan, so its faux fur but still a bit sexy
– Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre, creative directors, Ester Manas
THE WRAP UP
Ester Manas created a collection for fall that was a love letter to all those who inspired them, expanding their silhouettes to not just include their signature ruched and ruffled sheers but also took into account the full lifestyle needs of those who wear the brand. Truly showing an understanding and empathy for the woman who will have found a way to express herself fully and freely in the brand.
