Review of Maryam Nassir Zadeh Spring 2022 Fashion Show
Playful and Minimalist, Intellectual and Effortless, MNZ Pushes the Possibilities of Seeing and Being Seen
By Mark Wittmer
At once liberating and puzzling, breezy and complex, the Spring 2022 collection from rising New York star Maryam Nassir Zadeh was as much a lesson in the power of styling as it was thoughtful design. The show saw the designer narrow the scope of her trademark eclecticism for a layered exploration of body and dressing’s dichotomy of transparency and hiddenness.
Many of the collection’s looks feel indebted to late 90’s fashion, especially the era’s swimwear, though Zadeh impressively manages to pare the reference down to a sense of minimalist though idiosyncratic modernism. Eclecticism and minimalism seem like terms that are at odds with each other, yet part of the designer’s art is to help them happily coexist. Dresses have simple silhouettes and are at once loose and form-fitting; simple shorts and chinos are illuminated through dangly, seascape-suggestive belts. Interesting visual complexity is achieved through nuanced layering of pieces that are simple in themselves, like sheer straight skirts over bikini bottoms or bodysuits, rather than individual pieces that are complex in themselves. Though cute, the few frilly details actually felt a bit out of place.
This principled minimalism is carried over through bags, which mostly consisted of totes in sizes from wee to grandiose. But the designer’s innovation poked through in this realm as well, most obviously manifested in the treatment of the material and the stitching. One unique bag in particular excellently carried over the spaghetti-strap motif from the bikini-infused ready-to-wear pieces, featuring one strap worn across the chest and one strap worn as a belt.
The clean focus of silhouette and material meant that the few embellishing details made even more of an impact. Two dresses featured large translucent spangles laid over polka dots, creating a glimmering multi-dimensional effect that moved with the wearer’s body. A pair of white pants had a sheer leg panel embroidered with a floral pattern. Worn over shirts, sculpted glass bras provided an interesting counterpoint to the sheer and bra-less looks: in both instances, the wearer invites the viewer into an expression of femininity and sexuality, but does it on their own terms, creating their own window through which to be viewed.
Zadeh seems most focused on form and shape, and how they interact with the body. Whether it’s a sheer, form-fitting tank or a slouchy suit jacket, each piece seemed created with the wearer’s experience of it first in mind. Part of this experience, the designer shows us, is the idea of being seen by some other. With this collection, Zadeh affirms an idea of dressing that is about expressing control over the distance between wearer and viewer – a form of control which is, in fact, the very essence of freedom. Her unique dual role as both designer and boutique-owner may allow for such sartorial insights.
At the same time, though, it could be holding her back from exploring design for its own sake. If anything, it would have been interesting to see the designer lean more into experimenting with this concept (it also would have been a welcome move to extend the same thoughtfulness to the men’s pieces). Such experimentalism, however, may have been a bit of a trade off with the eminent sellability of the collection.
Still the designer continues to position herself as an exciting and unique voice in design and styling, and each collection sees her push herself to rethink the territory she has covered and incorporate new ideas into her oeuvre. There is something especially impactful in the difficulty that comes from trying to fit this collection into a box, or into words – it plays with what we have seen before, but expresses it ineffably. This seems like a sure sign of an artist in control of her medium.