Review of Supriya Lele Fall 2022 Fashion Show
Twisted Party Starter
By Angela Baidoo
Fashion East Alumni Supriya Lele is calling the girls out to play, with a collection that shouted “It’s time to party!”.
Lele’s Fall manifesto was outlined as the continued empowerment of the female form, giving agency to women to choose how sexy they want to go, with this collection she seeks to flatter not just the size zero model standard, but rather to draw in women of all sizes.
Through the use of artful drapery and stretch fabrics, Lele’s designs champion the inclusivity that shaped her formative years growing up and being accepted by like-minded club kids in the 1990s and early 2000s.”
Her mission to make sexy clothes comfortable, means regularly falling back on stretch fabric, draping, twisting, and ties, which make her designs adaptable for any sized wearer. Casting Paloma Elsesser, one of the hardest working models in the runway eco-system right now – which begs the question “Are there no other plus-size models working the show circuit in 2022?” Precious Lee, Jill Kortleve, Tess McMillan anyone? – will give curvier fans of the brand a real-world view of how her designs will adjust and mould around their own body’s.
Adding outerwear was in perfect alignment with the multiple storms that were raging on London’s streets, evolving from the robe-like trench coats that were more suited to a time when we wanted to transition from our inner and outer worlds with the minimum of fuss, this season an eighties edginess was brought to silhouettes with power shoulders, dropped waists, and funnel necks. Showing that some thought had gone into what her customer might want to wear beyond her twenties.
Her final look, that was comprised of ultra-slim pants – that will require a high degree of body confidence to pull off – were dipped precariously low at the front to reveal, heart-shaped lace underwear, a category the designer would do well to add to her brand, enabling her barely-there designs, which for Fall 2022 will involve a lot of sheer layering and hip-bone slashing to be worn with a modicum of modesty.
Lele presented a collection that her fangirls can take from the shop floor to the dance floor”
In order to stay ahead in this fast moving industry, the young designer may want to update her retail strategy, as the youth-driven nature of her brand – slim fits and draped jersey that lean heavily on a Y2K aesthetic – makes it ripe for being ripped off by those fast fashion brands that shall not be named, yet have the manufacturing prowess to turn-around a design in less than a week. That said the designer may want to consider close-to-season collections, exclusive capsules with independent retailers, and employing the increasingly popular drop model, which contrary to popular belief does not have to mean diluting the brand through churning out multiple collections, it could be as simple as a regional colour palette change or the addition of a metallic coating, which will give her signature swathes of fabric a new dimension without losing any of its sex appeal.