BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has been designing clothing for three decades now, but this is the first time I have posted a collection (although the brand did not start showing in Paris until 2006). The show notes for this FW '23-'24 collection at Paris Fashion Week are clear enough:

"Songzio’s fall 2023 collection, titled 'Reflexion,' captures the coexisting dualities in the human soul. Sometimes visible, yet sometimes invisible, this collection brings out the perplex senses and emotions that coexist within us. This collection is a self-reflection of who we are and who we appear to be."

But the form this inspiration took directs me to the ideas of armour and protection. Is Songzio speaking to war-like tendencies in humans? I see stylized references to Roman gladiator skirts and breastplates as well as the type of armour and clothing worn underneath by Shogun warriors. The overlapping plates in leather and even denim give an impenetrable sense. Is this collection the manifestation of the idea that we all have something soft inside of us to protect? Whatever it is, the cuts are amazing and the tailoring that achieves this effect is expert.

https://www.songzio.com/