On Tuesday afternoon, storied bridal designer Ines di Santo is making her return to New York Luxury Bridal Fashion Week with an immersive runway show at Lavan Midtown.
Titled “Romanticism Unveiled,” the designer’s daughter and managing partner Veronica di Santo told WWD that the latest collection was inspired by the exploration and study of the five core characteristics of the artistic and intellectual Romanticism movement.
A sketch from Ines di Santo.
Courtesy of Ines di Santo.
“The focus on individuality, emphasis on nature, emotion over reason, freedom of form and the exploration into the unknown — it’s these five characteristics of the movement that we designed the dresses around and created an environment for each core,” di Santo said, adding Ines di Santo was further inspired by the ongoing cultural conversation regarding the use of technology and AI.
In order to amplify the ideas of modern technology versus essential human creativity, she said they chose Lavan Midtown due to its walls with projection and digital mapping technology, which the brand is utilizing to create five digital vignettes — led by Ines di Santo’s creative vision of the five core themes, and designed by a digital artist — as the backdrops of the collection.
A sketch from Ines di Santo.
Courtesy of Ines di Santo.
“It’s this integration of technology in this collection that we’ve pushed the limit,” Veronica di Santo added of the gowns. “For instance, fabric developments this season, we adapted and pushed modern embroidery and laser cutting to create these layered fabrications, pairing them with hand-painted and hand-beaded details to create new depths. There’s a focus on the level of craft and craftsmanship that can never really be substituted by the machine. There’s a statement there that the human elements will always prevail over the machine.”