In their second appearance, stylist Imruh Asha and designer Danial Aitouganov debuted on the official Paris Fashion Week fall calendar. Not bad for a starting brand.
Zomer, the Dutch word for summer, is inspired by the founders’ shared roots and taste for experiment, refinement and color. Perhaps the most artistic of the Parisian newcomers, they have already carved out a place in the conceptual clothing space.
During a preview, Aitouganov said the duo’s goal for fall was to “offset the muted minimalism with pops of color and an off-the-beaten-path voice of white-brown-black-navy.” A sense of lightness, he added, is a niche in itself, especially when you look at what’s popular on the streets. “This allows us to respond to different moods,” he offered.
Fittingly for an emerging brand that is almost a gallery, collaborations are key. For fall, that meant hand-blown glass pieces produced with Heven, the Brooklyn homeware brand from Breanna and Peter Dupont. Although they had a lot of impact, they did not look light. Elsewhere, a centerpiece of a beige overcoat with a diagonal cut at the front was one of the few pieces that nod to the work of Lucio Fontana (the cuff bracelets were also notable).
On the commercial side, there were some promising ideas. For example, a bandeau theme with buttons could give customers the opportunity to vary from season to season. A color-blocked jacket, overcoat and cardigans looked very wearable, as did a cropped khaki hoodie. A print of Aitouganov’s French bulldog not shown here was also cute.
It is clear that Zomer has both ambition and potential. The designers are already working with the new pre-sale platform Upfirst and are launching their own e-commerce site this week. But they soon come to a fork in the road: going to a gallery and admiring an idea, a color or a shape is not the same as realizing that you actually want – have to – live with that thing. . Now that they have our attention, it may be worth reversing the equation.
