Holding a mirror up to creative director Demon Zhang’s cultural heritage and Yunnanese roots, MITHRIDATE’s Spring/Summer 25 collection embarked upon a journey of vibrancy. Studying youthfully exuberant hues intertwined with mature formalwear from within the bright walls and herringbone floors of Lindley Hall, ‘Spring Fusion’ is a personal and intimate celebration for the Central Saint Martins alumni that saw Jameela Jamil and Adot Gak front row prior to the presentation.
A region in Southwestern China renowned for snow-capped mountains and vast gorges, Yunnan is the foundational inspiration for the collection, touching upon its global stance in the flower-trading market and the cultural significance of craftsmanship in a blend of tradition and contemporary design. Weaving Yunnan’s botanical richness and landscape depth into every piece, this season offers striking use of Zhang’s print specialism across ice-dying and tie-dying techniques, imbuing soft tailoring with marbled mixtures of lilac and cerulean dappled with pearl accents. Centered around delicately draped sheets, models floated with their fresh skin and terracotta flushed cheeks, gliding between guests and other looks in a mirage of colour and light, fusing their colours and textures.
MITHRIDATE SS25 SPRING FUSION
Featuring luxurious cuts of silk and lace shimmering under the lights, the collection opened and returned to close with a celestial allure, shifting slowly into a visual symphony of teals and oranges amongst neon flurries through to seductive twilight hues: a chromatic journey from dusk to dawn. In homage to Yunnanese traditions of exhibiting wealth through adornment, models bestowed intricate silver pieces in their hair, their luminosity adding to the ethereal and establishing the recurring use of silverware and significance of heavy accessorising. Deep midnight blues and dark satins backed hand-embroidered murals of Yunnan’s wildlife, depicting great fish and strong peacocks amongst floral motifs dancing across the fabric’s night sky. Consistently revisiting and restructuring traditional Chinese dress, one suit with its silhouette ruffled, featured sheer cutaways with pale peach embroidery and beading in a physical manifestation of a frozen lake beginning to melt in the face of Spring emerging, an ode to the lakes of Zhang’s home.
The warming essence of meadows in bloom and golden hour sunsets permeate through gowns built of pom poms, manipulating exploding fields of wool and cotton into a whimsical and tactile experience. One breathtaking cape trails behind, adorned with felted flowers and foil features, with pom poms carrying the collection in their flamboyant hues of turquoise. Tailored sharp shoulders echoing the wingspan of great birds and angels, as MITHRIDATE’s own birds of prey behind the ethereal capes, guarded by iridescent musings of butterflies and constellations, flora and fauna.
Striking the room filled with guests making small talk over cocktails and continuing to click and flick the cameras, one model bestows a head-to-toe dress of sequins. Gradients of teal blinding with sparkle bounding around the bright walls; they were the green peacock spreading their feathers, captivating with flashes of royal emerald flickering from inside the dress like a mermaid
tail. Woven bags in aquatic silhouettes peer from behind thighs in racing stripes of orange and lime. Textures continue to protrude from the body, hungry to poke, for movement to interact with their presence as they erect from grand headpieces and hips alike, undeniably reminiscent of the curious childlike experimentation of an art box and PVA glue. Amour-like pieces, adorned with intricate hanging structures from cobalt to stark white, offer an avant-garde twist on traditional ornamentation. Clinking together, symbolising the relationship between protecting and freedom. A protection for the ‘free and unruly: a preservation of the fragility of spring and wildlife, of naivety and innocence.
MITHRIDATE’s official debut, Spring Fusion, commemorates tactile craft and regional legacy in a standout showcase for this season’s London Fashion Week.
Words By: Abigail Scarlett
Images Courtesy of CP Concept // Images By: Jason Lloyd Evans
