BEAUTY: Clothing--Mithridate

Mithridate, the label founded by Chinese designer Demon Zhang, continues to mine creative inspiration from her home country. For this vibrant SS '25 collection at London Fashion Week, she looked at the heritage clothing from the Yunnan, her home province. She employed the beautiful patterns, colors, and embellishments of several different ethnic groups (hats from the Kucong and pom-poms from the Hani) that all bear some resemblance to the native dress of nearby Myanmar, Bhutan, and Nepal.

https://mithridate.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Mithridate

Mithridate, the label founded by Chinese designer Demon Zhang, creates collections that are simple and ornate at the same time (previously here). For her SS '24 collection at London Fashion Week, Zhang chose to set her catwalk outside in a lovely garden and the collection statement explains why:

"MITHRIDATE’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection delves into the themes of searching for inner peace and ‘The Cure’ on an oriental island; considering ‘to cure’ as both the result and the process. Creative Director Demon Zhang took thematic and design inspiration from her heritage, exploring concepts and prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicinal techniques including the key 24 different healing herbs, all conceptualised into sophisticated, romantic designs.

The collection is flooded with radiant yellow, soothing cyan, earthy salt pink and soft jade, arranged from organic and remedial fabrics such as silk, cotton and linen. In keeping with MITHRIDATE’s dominant moth motif, this season introduces the ghost moth. With healing properties, the moth is interspersed through enticing patterns, layered accessories, hand embroidery and winged silhouettes. Demon Zhang fuses traditional with modern through oriental cutting designs and Southwest China’s bean dye technique alongside laser cutting and hydraulic spray painting. Infused with her signature maximalist style, the collection plays with flowing textures, as well as depth of light and layering to embody healing energy."

I love how this collection expresses itself...it almost feels like an Etro creation, back when Kean Etro was director of menswear. The cumulative effect is sumptuous and a little hypnotizing...like looking at a cabinet of curiosities and wanting to lean in to examine each detail. The burnout velvet in chocolate brown/brass/copper and jade is stunning, the paint splatters on the slashed olive pieces read as embroidery, and the moth jewelry and dragonfly closures are just gorgeous. And while it may seem obvious, the use of cyanotype, a medium traditionally used for capturing images of botanicals in sunshine, feels elevated and fits perfectly.

Watch the video of the co-ed show to see the corresponding women's looks which are even more lovely...and to hear the dreamy, ambient soundtrack.

https://mithridate.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Mithridate

The fairly new label Mithridate, headed by founder and creative director Demon Zhang showed an intriguing Fall-Winter 2021-2022 collection at London Fashion Week. At once simple and ornate (somehow, yes), the collection's lookbook and video were shot and filmed at an English country house but there is something--and this is just me--vaguely Russian about the silhouettes and decorative choices of the garments. I can't put my finger on it, but it feels beautifully Romantic and wintery while still being fashion forward: look at the voluminous bells on the men's trousers, the A-line coats, and the absolutely gorgeous embroidery of thorny branches and what looks like bejeweled bloody slashes (do take a look at the video!). I also love the botanical prints for men.

The official website offers scant little about the sense of the collection:

AW21: Automatiste

Mithridate’s Autumn Winter 2021 collection, ‘Automatiste’, is a profoundly personal response from founder and creative director Demon Zhang to her experience of the restrictive conditions of 2020. Throughout the months of isolation and uncertainty in Guangzhou, Zhang plumbed her subconscious for inspiration, embarking on a journey to discover her inner-self at a time when travel and external exploration were out of the question.

https://www.mithridate.uk/