Bode came back from America debuting with the womenswear at Paris Fashion Week

Emily Adams Bode Aujla’s practice starts with storytelling surrounding her own everyday life to render through clothes a familiar portrait: the FW 2023

Bode signature in the FW23

If Emily Adams Bode Aujla’s work with Bode had started in 2016 with a focus on the menswear industry, FW23 makes clear a change of course. The spirit from the beginning was to demonstrate a woman’s possibility in this sphere.

The collection makes current the dialogue between previous forms, never too gendered, and the inclusion of clear elements of traditional canons of femininity. Storytelling remains an essential element in telling the sartorial product through personal or historical approaches. Less defined forms of classically cut wide pants and silk shirts are thus joined by typical lingerie elements and lace creations.

Large volumes and knitwear remain a hallmark in the presentation of this co-ed collection as well. So do the embellishments with elaborate embroidery and the use of plaid and patchwork patterns. Conjugated in different designs, bangs are also an element that returns along with bright decorative elements.

Slow fashion and personal inspirations

The creative director brings to the runway everything that seems contrary to the widespread idea of America. From mass production to the speed of change. Instead, she focuses on production related to slow fashion, drawing design inspiration from her surroundings.

In the specific case of the Fall Winter 2023 collection, Emily Adams Bode Aujla uses her mother and that part of her family as a reference. With their sincere style, the Rice sisters, as the creative director’s aunts are called, conquered the Theatre du Chatelet. In the background, a Cape Cod house complete with yard and a garden gate make the collection authentic and within everyone’s reach.

The job of her mother, Janet, who worked in college in the 1970s at the Crane estate in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is one of the starting points. The conception of the collection then goes much further by referring to the old lady with whom that one worked and who sported formal dresses at dinner parties, to date from the 1890s to the 1940s. Then again, everyday life lived as a family and special occasions or celebrations made the collection a repository of history and memories. 

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The fascination of the American manufacturing

Although the clothes seem to appear common to an imagination of memories and therefore accessible, they still belong to the category of luxury. Attention to workmanship also rises over European savoir fair with innovative shapes and beyond any definition of gender.

From what Vogue.com reports, the models came out of the house and paraded close enough to the audience to give them a way to appreciate the individual applications. Between embroidery and embellishment, each piece was embellished within the collection. Gold or green beads edged men’s gowns and flapper dresses. Other pieces, however, seemed to come straight out of the glamorous era of the 1930s.

From glitter dresses to sequins, big stars of the runway, and again to velvets. Beyond this shine and embroidered fabrics embellished with bangs, decorations, lapels there is knitwear. Thick and bulky, some with traditional embroidery with a mountain vibe, others with more structured patterns that look almost like comic books. 

Wearable and kitsch, the two ingredients  

Volumes remain large in both pants, top pieces, and outerwear. Tailoring and the ability to appear garments suitable for anyone and affordable for anyone meet with kitsch taste. Essential ingredient in the rediscovery of retro and vintage details characterizes several pieces in the collection thanks to nuances of bright colors and decorations.

The focus, however, is on two iconic pieces of this Fall Winter 2023: the Christmas tree dress and the wedding dress. The latter seems to want to enhance the news of the inclusion of the womenswear line more. With simple lines and featuring an accessible silhouette and collar that makes it daily wearable, it also lends the veil detail to other looks appearing on the runway. The Christmas tree on the other side gives the idea of home and family parties, personifying the symbols that inspired the collection. 

Pirates, cowboys and preppy style

The year 2022 was marked by the triumph of aesthetics and styles that determined different trends. In 2023, fashion seems to want to redefine this rule by hybridizing different genres of clothing with each other. Both in the production and in the catwalk styling of garments.

Within the runway features typical cowboy style, such as bangs, meets structured coats and jackets. Fur coats, sleeveless, are paired with plaid pants in country mode. Gold, evening, or sequin-covered dresses are opposed to oversized, classic-crafted sweaters.

Embroidered patterns on velvet give rise to refined garments with an elegant attitude. On the other hand, a pair of shorts matched with a shirt, both lose, reintroduce the indie aesthetic. At last, a wide striped pants paired with a green blouse with noticeable lapels seems to be inspired, thanks to the addition of a vest, to the pirate look.

Bode FW23

The Fall/Winter 2023 season marked Bode’s return to the runway at Paris Fashion Week. Emily Adams Bode Aujla’s antique-filled imprint celebrated its seventh anniversary with this show.

Chiara Narciso