When Karolina Zmarlak set out to design KZ_K Studio’s new Warm Cycle_25: Hadid Derelictions Collection, the founder and Creative Director alongside her architect trained partner Jesse Keyes, looked to the art of constructing buildings as its primary inspiration. Specifically, the duo sought out the innovative spirit of trailblazing female architect Zaha Hadid whose work can be seen around the world, from Azerbaijan to the United Kingdom, Italy and more.
For this season’s collection, which is divided into four distinct capsules, Zmarlak explored and studied Hadid’s many creations such as the Pierresvives Archive and Library in Montpellier, France, the CMA CGM Headquarters in neighboring Marseille, France and New York City’s 520 West 28th Street building, which is situated on the High Line. These works ultimately led her to creating a collection that embraces these design aspects through an equally innovative lens.
“Zaha Hadid was not only a “star”chitect, she transcended the biases associated with being a woman from the Middle East, and defied the logic and gravitational forces of building, to set our imaginations aflame with geometric edifice explosions,” Zmarlak told Fashion Mannuscript. “Jesse Keyes (my architect trained partner) and I dove deep into Hadid’s ideas and personally, physically perused her South of France projects, searching for concepts translatable to our own studio design language, to construct into our Warm Cycle_25 Collection: Hadid Derelictions.”
Overall, the collection presents a dynamic range of styles that speaks to both this inspiration and KZ_K Studio’s brand ethos, which puts innovation and sustainability at its forefront. As for its color palette, it features a mix of bold and neutral hues across a range of upcycled apparel pieces. Specific pieces include those such as The Aquatics Reversible Trench and coordinating Aquatics Seam Pant, the Fragment Directional Jacket and its matching counterpart, the Projection Pant, the Parametric Cropped Shirt which goes with the collection’s Parametric Cinch Pant, the Simulacrum Reversible Cinch Jacket and Simulacrum Pant and the CMA Reversible Cinch Parka.
Made from Doubleface Stretch Sharkskin, The Aquatics Reversible Trench and Aquatics Seam Pant from capsule one, embraces an elevated take on a signature trenchcoat and pants set. “A staple of our modernist designs remains multifunctionality: with the trench, wrist tabs reverse to both sides, and pockets offer the same reversibility within the cool textile confines of a double-faced stretch sharkskin,” said Zmarlak. “With menswear finishing in the tailoring of the front fly, while also incorporating an elastic facing in the waist, the pant transcends feminine expectations of look and function.” The Fragment Directional Jacket and Projection Pant – also from capsule one – combines the elements of a cropped jacket with that of high-waist pants. The Fragment Directional Jacket is made with quilted organic cotton and is composed of 86% if recycled plastic bottles while the Projection Pant is made from a stretch cotton twill material. Speaking on this piece, Zmarlak shared, “The striated texture tried to capture a linear fluidity, seen in many Hadid designs, while the quilted organic self softens and eases a client’s everyday use (not something that Hadid was known to concern herself with).”
Capsule Three’s Parametric Cropped Shirt and Parametric Cinch Pant arrive in the forms of a double button crop top and signature cinch pant with drawstrings at both sides of the waist. Both are designed with nylon air taffeta and are comprised of 100% recycled plastic bottles. “With the help of a nylon air taffeta, and the language of two visible, statement buttons (while the others weave back into the piece), this top and cinch pant offer fluidity and foundation, movement and coverage, lightness and substance, embracing contemporary contradictions in clothing design,” Zmarlak said.
As part of Capsule Four, the Simulacrum Reversible Cinch Jacket and Simulacrum Pant also feature this drawstring cinch element as part of its designs. The Cinch Jacket is constructed with silk air taffeta while the Simulacrum Pant is made with tech silk air taffeta. Both pieces are water resistant. “Silk is the key ingredient in this reversible cinch jacket and pant. Silk, a naturally born human process begun 5,000 years ago in ancient China, unwinding the threads that make up a mulberry consuming worm’s cocoon: after all the modernist advanced technological materials developed, Hadid, as with all great designers, embraced nature’s unsurpassed creative genius.” Continuing with the drawstring detail, The CMA Reversible Cinch Parka in Capsule Four, incorporates this style throughout its silhouette. This piece is derived from recycled textured air taffeta, is composed of 100% recycled plastic bottles and arrives in an “Asmant” hue. “An homage to the CMA Towers designed by Hadid in the port of Marseilles, this highly personalizable parka (cinchable front waist, back with cinchers at neck) and pant embrace the potential for technology to help dig us out of the dastardly holes we’ve been drilling into the heart of Mother Earth (unceasingly, and ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution): these pieces are devised of a textured air taffeta woven from yarn: 100% recycled from plastic bottles,” Zmarlak highlighted.
KZ_K Studio’s Warm Cycle_25: Hadid Derelictions Collection is now available to purchase at kzkstudionyc.com.
