Every season, Zimmermann is a red hot poker to romance in fashion. The label has a unique ability to ignite a frisson of sartorial passion just as our wardrobes start to weather and wilt. Sisters Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, who seem to have an unending supply of seasonal inspiration (or perhaps they are burdened by our twice yearly yearning for their latest apparitions) are unparalleled when it comes to spellbinding ways to tempt our wanderlust and whimsy.
For Fall 2022, they have presented Stargazer, a collection moulded around the mysticism of the Zodiac. Although many of the pieces offer literal star sign trinketing (trims, fasteners and appliqués shaped around motifs, moons and stars) as an ensemble, the season is a theatrical escape to fabled folklore. Texture is high, as is volume, layering and playful silhouettes. Once again, they have presented it as a mesmerising film, this time with models wandering the pastel, architectural interior of an neo-realist space. Its graphic clarity casts a futurist rainbow over what is an otherwise throwback theme. It mutates the seventies flare and the Edwardian shapes and feeds them into a kind of supernatural modernism. The collection is thick with lace paisleys, typographic Italian wools and original screen-printed storybook illustrations from UK-based artist Anita Inverarity. Decor comes in the form of velvet platform sandals, ornate gold tiaras, satin booties with pearl anklets, decadent oversized scarves and dashingly cool wide-brimmed bowler hats. Sleeves are ruched, puffed and decorated, hems are jagged, frilled and tiered and necklines are collared, lacy and fit for a renaissance revival.
The palette is plentiful, too, with a kaleidoscope of prints and dyes painting a coming season dedicated to ripe mulberries, burnt umbers, inky jades and feather-light pinks. Creative Director Nicky Zimmermann explained the collection offers “a conscious clash of fabric textures in each look. It’s a collection that’s high on finer details. Maybe that’s a bit of the Virgo in me coming through!”
This detail is something that becomes clear on closer inspection, too. While the film is an intoxicating way to fall in love with Stargazer, viewing up-close images (and of course the pieces themselves when they hit stores soon) proves the spectacular artistry of this trailblazing Australian label. It’s in the minutiae that you notice the careful atelier craftsmanship that sets Zimmermann apart from the rest.
Stargazer is a kind of hippy, trippy garden party, a Hans Christian Anderson 2022 fever dream, if you will. From the Broderie-trimmed sunflower-printed garden gown to the jacquard mini skirt that’s psychedelically layered over lace tights to the flare-cut culotte-suit in muted tangerine these fantastical looks could be cosplay for Alice if she fell down the rabbit hole today. Imagine her at the tea party in the super-frilled georgette maxi, one that moves with independent gravity, then draped in the plush warmth of the boucle pea coat.
Stargazer is fare for a fable Queen, a decadent heroine who’s meandering a maze of fantasy both light and dark. Folklore discourse offers an abundance of sartorial opportunity, as does Zodiac dreaming. It’s never not a romantic or dashing or dreamy way to dress. Its particular style of storybook feminism mixed with a rich twist of perilous adventure makes it a perpetually chic archetype. Or at least I think so. But perhaps that’s just the Piscean in me coming through.
Photography courtesy of Zimmermann.
