Spring found Ellen Hodakova Larsson on fine footing: the 2024 LVMH Prize winner introduced a new category this season—shoes. In keeping with the brand ethos, they were made using discarded leather. The slightly bulbous masculine toe cap was juxtaposed with a curvy, sturdy, wooden Louis heel. This was but one of many contrasts at play in this confident collection.
Several seasons ago Larsson said she wanted to start working more with shapes, and she did so for spring not only in the dramatic closing showpieces, but in more pliable, real-world propositions made of leather furniture covers that nodded, the designer said, to the work of Claes Oldenburg. All through the show hard was contrasted with soft. While pillows softly rounded a series of looks made of vintage bed linens; pointy breasts were created by using a horizontal seam at the bust or by using an open frame handbag as a de facto bra; a cozy mitten dress had a fuzzy tactility and innocence that countered the almost tech aspect of spiky pieces made with the inners of umbrellas. “Reincarnation is a topic that is definitely what I want Hodakova to be,” said Larsson, newly minted patron saint of discarded parapluies.
If fall’s hard-edged, attitudinal show had a lightning-fast pace, spring’s was as gentle as a passing shower. The designer said both are reflective of where she is as a person. Larsson said she was feeling more settled this year after the happy chaos of her 2024. “The inspiration for this season has been just the idea of spending time in another type of tempo,” she said. “And to again go into handicraft and things that take time to learn, and really be in that.”
The designer’s going both broad and deep. Not only was there more variety here, but the craftsmanship was more developed than ever before. Two stellar examples were the hand-pleating on a white cotton dress and a series of silver patterned pieces. That dazzling embroidery was made by individually stitching zipper heads to fabric.
This slow and steady pace, Larsson explained, also allowed her to rekindle her interest in art and architecture. For example, Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene inspired the wavy, hair-like pattern of one zipper dress. As for architecture, it was present in the clothes as well as the location, the Musée Bourdelle. The show was presented in the 1992 extension wing, all stone, light and angles, by Christian de Portzamparc. Those geometric shapes took on a very different form in the finale looks, which Larsson collaborated on with Joar Nilsson of Dacapo, a Swede who has recently established a school to carry on the thatching tradition in Skåne. What this collection made clear is that Larsson is becoming more at home in her talent season after season.