In the 16Arlington studio in London earlier this week, a mood board was laid against the wall—covered not with reference images, but dozens of Post-It notes, each scrawled with short, snappy sentences. “We often start with these boards that are usually completely covered in words, and as the season goes on, we take them away,” designer Marco Capaldo said. “Then, we’re left with the mood of the collection.”
This season, a trio of bright yellow Post-Its stood out in particular: “British irreverence,” “New York slick,” and “Italian gloss,” neatly reflecting the trifecta of influences that tend to inform Capaldo’s collections. (The designer was raised in England within a large Italian family, and his collections often take their cues from the grit and glamour of Manhattan after-hours dressing.) Yet while the designer amusingly described the spirit of the collection as “Rachel Green meets Elvis, and everything in between,” the element that shone most brightly was a very British brand of eccentricity—clothes for outlandish London It girls with outsize personalities, unafraid to sling a studded leather scarf around their neck, or to step out in a sheer crystal-studded top with just an explosion of feathers hanging from carabiners down the front to protect their modesty. “She’s not a follower of fashion, necessarily, but somehow always turns out to be the most fashionable person in the room,” said Capaldo.
This layered approach offered a marvelous sense of discovery: turn up the sleeve of a crisp white button-down, and you find rows of punky studs fixed underneath; pick up a dress covered in yellow, lozenge-shaped paillettes and dangling strands of crystals and you’ll enjoy a full-on multisensory experience, with its gently percussive rustle and a surface reflecting the light like reflective road markers. (You’ll need to watch the videos of the collection in motion on 16Arlington’s social channels to experience the full effect.) As always, the clothes were impressively well made: a skirt and dress made from layers of leather, richly sequined silk, zebra print pony hide, and embroidered tulle could have easily felt a little “everything and the kitchen sink,” were it not for its meticulous construction and pleasing heft they carried.
With its deliberately maximalist, decade-hopping approach—lace-trimmed lingerie dresses that recalled the 1920s, the exaggerated collars of ’70s shirting, and yes, some ’90s pencil skirts that you could easily see on Rachel Green during her New York fashion executive era—it felt like a timely reminder of 16Arlington’s overall appeal. Quiet luxury, this is not: these are statement pieces that women are unlikely to have already in their wardrobes. (Which, based on the anecdotal evidence of what my female friends have told me, is exactly the kind of thing they’re shopping for right now.) “I just wanted it to be really fun, really fast, really emotional, just based on instinct,” Capaldo said.
A delightful final look paid a more direct homage to Elvis with its head-to-toe optic white, pointed and oversized collar, and marabou pom-pom boa—“my Little White Chapel moment,” as Capaldo described it. “I wanted to really celebrate that fine line between good taste and bad taste, because that’s where I think the essence of true magical style really exists,” said Capaldo. It was exactly that spirit of playfulness and humor, and a willingness to veer into the realm of “bad taste,” that gave it lift-off. The idea of the British eccentric might conjure images of Miss Havisham-style kooks wandering the halls of their crumbling mansions, or the rakish tweed and tartans of Withnail and I, but Capaldo proved that a high-octane party girl can be just as much of an oddball too.