London Fashion Week coincides with the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death last year.
Georgian-born designer David Koma paid homage to the late monarch in his spring 2024 show.
“The starting point was images of Queen Elizabeth attending the Chelsea Flower Show. I [also] came across images of her as a young princess during the Second World War, when she trained as a mechanic and a driver,” said the designer in a preview.
Koma is synonymous with contrast of soft and hard. This time, his bodycon dresses and sultry designs became gently graceful with the rose motifs that he embroidered, printed and pinned onto the runway looks.
The roses were a hint to England’s national flower, as well as a reference to the roses found in “The Girl on a Motorcycle,” starring Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon, where their love-making scene is concealed by a bunch of red roses.
“In the film, she wears this leather jumpsuit, she’s reimagined as a biker and I quite liked the tagline of the film, ‘naked under leather,’” said Koma.
Skin and sensuality is a key part of his business — the designer is a go-to name for actors and models on the red carpet and musicians on tour.
This summer Koma created a few looks for Beyoncé’s “Renaissance World Tour” and he used the track “Alien Superstar” for his grand show at the Tate Modern.
Koma’s Queen Elizabeth looks may not be modest enough for a monarch or Kate Middleton, but when it comes to pop-culture queens, it hits the bullseye.
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