Stepping into 16Arlington’s show venue today in London—an airy, light-filled hall in the Royal Academy of Arts—a warning sign offered a whisper of what was to come. “Please be mindful,” it read. “Loose confetti underfoot.”
The dog days of summer may have drawn to a close, but the weather in London this week has remained balmy—perfect timing, then, for Marco Capaldo to unveil a breezy, sun-kissed collection to keep the party going well into September. (Or, if we’re being technical, spring 2025.) There were sheer tees knotted at the bust, as if the wearer were lounging on a Balearic beach, paired with python-print knickers; bikini tops worn with diaphanous skirts that erupted with fiery dip-dyed marabou feathers; boyfriend button-downs thrown on over bralettes or barely there knit tanks. There was plenty of that confetti we were warned about covering the floor, plus a series of towering sculptures by artist Jesse Pollock of swaying palm trees rendered in steel and aluminum. As Edie Campbell stepped out under a milky yellow glow in the first look of a delicious suede duster coat, Jesus Loves You’s club anthem, “Generations of Love,” began to boom over the speakers.
As always with Capaldo, though, it wasn’t just about fun in the sun—that frolicsome spirit was undercut by something a little twisted, even perverse. Inspiration struck after he watched Pedro Almódovar’s 2011 psychological thriller, The Skin I Live In, in which Antonio Banderas plays a plastic surgeon conducting illegal experiments on humans he keeps captive—a movie as macabre as it is stylish. “I was really studying the hues of the film’s lighting—those yellows and those steely blue-grays and those hints of eau de Nil,” Capaldo said at a preview. What kept drawing him back into Almódovar’s world, however, were the carefully curated artworks that hang in the plastic surgeon’s home, whether a striking replica of Titian’s Venus of Urbino or roughly hewn figurative sculptures inspired by Louise Bourgeois. “I could taste the scenes; I could smell the scenes; I could almost touch the scenes and know what they felt like,” Capaldo continued. “That was a sentiment I wanted to carry through in building this collection.”
Capaldo may be unafraid to tackle edgier subject matter—just take last season’s collection, which explored the role of monsters in popular culture—but he’s always searching for the beauty within them. As he said, quoting a line from the film that was originally said by Bourgeois: “Art is a guarantee of sanity.” And there was a method to Capaldo’s apparent madness. First, in how well he knows his customer. The front row of 16A acolytes was practically cooing with delight at every look, and as always, Capaldo spoke about the women that surround him and inform his collection with wide-eyed reverence. “The woman, this season, is seen in this really special light,” he said. “It could be dusk, it could be dawn. She could be arriving or she could be leaving, but she’s always under the most magical light.” Second, there was the impressive craftsmanship on display, from the waxed raffia technique Capaldo developed to offer a new twist on his signature feathered embellishments, to the draped denim, to the series of gorgeous couture-level minidresses and skirts—we’re talking 57,000 hand-crocheted beads here—imprinted with the silhouettes of lilies.
Finally, and arguably most important, the show served as confirmation of the strength of the brand Capaldo has built. While the past few seasons have seen him lean sophisticated, developing a more grown-up wardrobe for his rapidly expanding customer base, in a sense this collection felt like a well-timed return to his party-girl roots—just revisiting that girl now that she’s all grown up. “She doesn’t need to be the loudest person in the room, because she just is, naturally, through her confidence,” Capaldo said. “Excuse the pun, but she’s comfortable within the skin she lives in.”
