Malone Souliers’ AW24 Pays Homage to Mid-Century Italian Design: Here’s How

Dig­i­tal Fash­ion Edi­tor Eve Fitz­patrick

Mal­one Souliers pre­sent­ed their AW24 col­lec­tion to the fash­ion world at Lon­don Fash­ion Week, immers­ing vis­i­tors into a world of opu­lence and lux­u­ry. Botan­i­cals lined the walls and a cel­lo play­er per­formed beau­ti­ful­ly to the guests, yet the star of the show was the time­less Ital­ian crafts­man­ship that filled the room.

The pre­sen­ta­tion took place in a for­mer fur­ni­ture fac­to­ry, trans­port­ing us to a world of lux­u­ry design. The con­cept of the pre­sen­ta­tion was derived from the Ital­ian archi­tect Gae Aulenti’s ‘art collector’s house’, a Milanese apart­ment which she ren­o­vat­ed for the Agnel­li fam­i­ly. The envi­ron­ment is clev­er­ly struc­tured around its art­works, their pres­ence piv­otal to it’s aes­thet­ics. In this case, it is the shoes and hand­bags of Mal­one Souliers’ AW24 col­lec­tion that are the clear works of art.

The col­lec­tion con­sist­ed of sleek mules, boxy time­less hand­bags, bal­le­ri­na flats and clas­sic court shoes. Con­trast­ing fab­rics such as croc embossed leather or patent with mesh were promi­nent through­out the col­lec­tion, as well as fun fin­ish­ing touch­es such as feath­er pom­poms and vel­vet ribbon.

Com­ment­ing on the col­lec­tion, Mal­one Souliers’ Co-Cre­ative Direc­tors explain, “Ital­ian crafts­man­ship is intrin­sic to the her­itage of Mal­one Souliers. Every trip to Italy is a design pil­grim­age and the AW24 col­lec­tion is a love let­ter to the rad­i­cal influ­ence of the country’s unpar­al­leled aes­thet­ic, which we have long and deeply admired.”