Damir Doma (Q2868)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Damir Doma is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Damir Doma |
Damir Doma is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
“After 12 years, you get to the point where you must redefine and remind yourself who you are,” said Damir Doma, showing existential candor in the presence of his latest men’s collection. His conclusion: He is a minimalist, just not in the more accepted, austere sense. “Mine is warmer, more human,” he noted.This seems like a fair assessment given the variety of artisanal treatments that speak softly through the collection. Near the start of the lookbook, for example, you will see a painterly effect on pant shins, which is echoed a few looks later on a khaki green parka. Doma called this his “origami” process, as the garment was folded before being hand-painted, thus staggering the effect. The punchy pink Japanese cotton has actually been washed and sprayed to register as more tonal and lived-in. In terms that aren’t as technical, his construction and layering continually hover between relaxed tailoring and sophisticated activewear without favoring either. This should appeal to anyone who can’t settle on whether to dress big and boxy or softened and relaxed.Indeed, for the past few years, Doma has been testing different styles and manners himself, as though unsure of how to be unselfconsciously relevant and broad in appeal. A tunic paneled with utility pockets inspired by the textile art of Sheila Hicks, a hoodie in remarkably crinkly paper polyester, a tracery bandana print, and his logo stitched backwards were among the flourishes that distinguished his designs from similarly introspective designers—such attention to detail will not go unnoticed, even if subtle. The accessories were also well developed, from the netted bags designed with Japanese label, Master-Piece, to the hybrid desert boots and sandals produced by Officine Creative. The new Mykita sunglasses were brilliantly personal: The trendy half-moon frame happens to be his double-D logo flipped sideways.
21 June 2018
When Damir Doma got the green light to show at the Halle Am Berghain, Berlin’s most exclusive nightclub, the decision to bypass Fashion Week in Milan for one season was a non-issue, especially since the invitation came from Fashion HAB, a new initiative from the Fashion Council Germany, in partnership with Mercedes-Benz.Having lived in Berlin for many years, Doma was also keen to connect back with that chapter. Whether this comes across in both collections is probably contingent on how well you know the city and local cultural references, from circa-1980s MännerVogue, to circa-now techno DJs Barker & Baumecker, who played at his show. Was the designer a club kid? “Officially, I went to study, but at that time, it was so exciting,” he said, sounding a little wistful. This then-versus-now duality was what came through most in the looks, which went heavy on contrast. For so many years, Doma’s approach was one of rigorous coherence—and to some degree, this remains his strength.Amid all the patterns on display in a Paris showroom—the vibrating blanket checks, textural jacquards, and vintage paisley scarf motifs—a trench in PVC bonded with ripstop became the hero piece. Also new this season was a Super 100s wool exclusively developed for him by Reda, the renowned Italian wool mill. As a twist, he applied the signature selvedge to the outside of his suit jackets and shift dresses, and it will be fun to see more of that. There were size markings of S, M, L on sportswear, a category he is keen to push, even if that customer doesn’t seem as obvious. One wonders how much after-hours Berlin flavor he will continue once back showing in Milan. The spray-painted effect on jersey and the lick of lime green down the uppers of python-effect boots might not seduce beyond the season, but the night itself seemed like a wild one.
23 January 2018
When Damir Doma got the green light to show at the Halle Am Berghain, Berlin’s most exclusive nightclub, the decision to bypass Fashion Week in Milan for one season was a non-issue, especially since the invitation came from Fashion HAB, a new initiative from the Fashion Council Germany, in partnership with Mercedes-Benz.Having lived in Berlin for many years, Doma was also keen to connect back with that chapter. Whether this comes across in both collections is probably contingent on how well you know the city and local cultural references, from circa-1980s MännerVogue, to circa-now techno DJs Barker & Baumecker, who played at his show. Was the designer a club kid? “Officially, I went to study, but at that time, it was so exciting,” he said, sounding a little wistful. This then-versus-now duality was what came through most in the looks, which went heavy on contrast. For so many years, Doma’s approach was one of rigorous coherence—and to some degree, this remains his strength.Amid all the patterns on display in a Paris showroom—the vibrating blanket checks, textural jacquards, and vintage paisley scarf motifs—a trench in PVC bonded with ripstop became the hero piece. Also new this season was a Super 100s wool exclusively developed for him by Reda, the renowned Italian wool mill. As a twist, he applied the signature selvedge to the outside of his suit jackets and shift dresses, and it will be fun to see more of that. There were size markings of S, M, L on sportswear, a category he is keen to push, even if that customer doesn’t seem as obvious. One wonders how much after-hours Berlin flavor he will continue once back showing in Milan. The spray-painted effect on jersey and the lick of lime green down the uppers of python-effect boots might not seduce beyond the season, but the night itself seemed like a wild one.
23 January 2018
The opening look of Damir Doma’s latest collection was not unlike what people have come to expect from the designer: a romantic vision that shifts around standard shapes just enough to make them feel outside place or time. But then things started to look a little less expected with the arrival of blousons with gathered sleeves, warm-up jackets, and patchwork denim—even if each appeared as meticulously executed as usual. Doma confirmed that this pivot was every bit intentional. “I would like to do something people identify with immediately. It’s not anymore about making people dream what they will want to wear in two years,” he explained. “I’m trying to close the gap between something that we did in the past and something we want to do in the future, which is something that’s much more direct.”While it would be easy enough to conclude that he’s caving to streetwear peer pressure, Doma made a fair point when he followed up with the fact that he really just wants to design for his friends, many of whom walked in the show. When he listed what they do—musician, designer, artist assistant, writer—some of the disparately eclectic separates became more convincing. Indeed, he was strongest when considering how to be different yet also universally relatable: See the coats unstructured like long nightgowns or a striped pant boasting a subtle Moroccan mosaic-inspired jacquard. As a noncolorist, Doma challenged himself with hits of orchid, emerald, and saffron; his customers might be ready by now to make that leap.Doma’s men’s and women’s capsule with Lotto Sport Italia, a throwback athletic brand, was the most daring—and also the toughest to reconcile, especially when jerseys were juxtaposed with jackets laced like corsets. Nonetheless, his confidence in this new direction was reassuring. To borrow from the meandering pointillist pattern that defined the collection: These things can easily be straightened out.
18 June 2017
Damir Domawas so attached to last Spring’s credo (care of the Talking Heads), “Never for money, always for love,” that it made an encore for Fall; only this time, the money part was noticeably absent. Doma wasn’t dismissing its importance—no fashion business can—so much as giving greater significance toalways for love. “People have lost that, and maybe for a while I lost that, too; and so I decided to implement it as a motto, not only in the collection but in the company,” he said, before broadening his theme: “I think it’s an honest and idealistic—almost anarchic—way of living. But this is what life should be about.”When the designer noted how the women’s and men’s looks have moved even closer toward each other this season, he was referring to the repetition of two-tone knits embellished with velvet thread, or the his-and-hers buffalo-hide pants; but metaphorically, this was proof of his objective. The combined collection used wraparound shapes, ethnic accents, and materials that hinted at time’s onward march to evoke a sweeping depiction of reason and emotion. The former took the lead via studied tailoring that gathered, tied, and twisted; the latter overruled when layers of looks peeled and draped in as studies of undress. Add to this duality the shared domain of decorative details—pendants featuring stones suspended in resin, belts that trailed dramatically, and the airbrushed striped brogues or vivid velvet boots—and Doma’s expression of love read as a collection of conceptual memories. As such, retailers and customers will face the task of singling out the pieces that speak to them in the present. One person’s bleach-splattered satin is another’s impression of a smoldering fire.
16 January 2017
“Never for money, always for love” was the name of this collection held in a beautiful semi-derelict occupied space in Milan, whichDamir Domaproudly reported had never agreed to hold anything as bourgeois as a fashion show until he asked them. Doma is unquestionably an artist who wields plenty of love. He is niche, and likes it like that. But the pleasing thing tonight was that you could see these credentials adding up to some money too. This was a simultaneous menswear and womenswear Spring ’17 collection—like Sibling, he’s not faking it and is ahead of the curve—and although uncompromisingly Doma-esque in its pulled-apart wistfulness and fray, it had (especially in the womenswear) obvious commercial appeal too.What to zero in on? We started with a lot of patchwork ripped denim with tufted raw selvedge edging in Doma’s oversized intellectual hobo shapes. A long silk hoodie-shirt was semi-opaque to reveal the abstract print of the shirt beneath it. Leaf embroidery occasionally furled at a shoulder. After a monochrome entrée, Doma pressed the pedal into an ochre section that delivered punchy quench. Hand ribboned pieces plus trousers, outerwear, and skirts in sections semi-attached to each other by metal rings like a partially pulled down shower curtain were artful disarray rendered in fabric. The men’s and women’s sections echoed against each other in a complementary chorus. This was art that deserves commerce.
19 June 2016
“Never for money, always for love” was the name of this collection held in a beautiful semi-derelict occupied space in Milan, whichDamir Domaproudly reported had never agreed to hold anything as bourgeois as a fashion show until he asked them. Doma is unquestionably an artist who wields plenty of love. He is niche, and likes it like that. But the pleasing thing tonight was that you could see these credentials adding up to some money too. This was a simultaneous menswear and womenswear Spring ’17 collection—like Sibling, he’s not faking it and is ahead of the curve—and although uncompromisingly Doma-esque in its pulled-apart wistfulness and fray, it had (especially in the womenswear) obvious commercial appeal too.What to zero in on? We started with a lot of patchwork ripped denim with tufted raw selvedge edging in Doma’s oversized intellectual hobo shapes. A long silk hoodie-shirt was semi-opaque to reveal the abstract print of the shirt beneath it. Leaf embroidery occasionally furled at a shoulder. After a monochrome entrée, Doma pressed the pedal into an ochre section that delivered punchy quench. Hand ribboned pieces plus trousers, outerwear, and skirts in sections semi-attached to each other by metal rings like a partially pulled down shower curtain were artful disarray rendered in fabric. The men’s and women’s sections echoed against each other in a complementary chorus. This was art that deserves commerce.
19 June 2016
After all the razzle-dazzle confection of a (pretty darn good) Milan season, watching this strongDamir Domacollection was like embarking on a kale-heavy cleanse: The sight of it isn’t obviously satiating, but it sure generates a benevolent glow.Why? Well, Doma deals in spiritually nutritious fashion that is properly feminocentric—unlike some houses that stick their models in thigh-highs and miniskirts and then call it “strong.” He consults his models—not all of whom are professional—on what they want to wear and how they want to wear it. His vision might be a little postapocalyptic (especially if that apocalypse is the end of the boob tube), but it is not sensationalist.The music came via Killing Sound, a Bristolian quartet that performed a spoken word New Order cover to beguiling abstract electronica while sitting with their mixers on a carpeted table behind the runway. Boiled wool/cotton mix denim was the template fabric for Doma’s long dresses with quilted obi-belt detailing at the arm and strapping at the waistline. The designer played a lot of masculine-feminine ping-pong here, so you’d see a crunchy-texture tabard of a liquid silk split long-hem shirt over a crunchy-again trouser. He fastened pochettes and little chains of round stone beads to the clothes with gleaming metal clips, and lined his gray and oat–flecked black boiled wool rib knits with more lines of contrasting metal. In silk crepe or wool jacquard, Doma’s Antoni Tàpies–inspired brushstroke refrain traced gentle nonspecific patterns across his voluminous silhouettes. His most successful was a wide pant/silk tier-hem shirt/full jacket combination that seemed both street ready yet still specifically in the domain of Doma. This designer is an acquired taste worth cultivating.
28 February 2016
The show on platform 22—due for departure at 8:00 p.m.—was delayed by 35 minutes. That’s life come the climax of Milan menswear Sunday, the most densely packed show day in the calendar.Damir Domahad fantastically swung it to show this collection inside Milan’s central station—a magnificent building that has blessedly endured long beyond its fascist conception. Doma said: “It’s my favorite location in Milan—whenever I come here, I’m extremely impressed. We try to think out of the box and find show spaces that are not so common. But we cannot pay a lot—we are not that kind of company. So we were super-lucky that there was someone in the office here who loves the brand and opened all the gates for us.”We were seated right on the platform, opposite a sleek red Frecciarossa 1000 express train. Over us arched the epic cathedral-like roof of steel girders. This show venue had Chanel-level impact but was obtained gratis: clever. The collection was clever too. Doma is an austere, sculptural designer, but there is warmth and consideration—even sometimes sexiness—in his clothes. His white drill openers with incised pockets that bled selvage were a meditation on proportional discord between anterior and posterior. His camel and olive coats, some waisted with a playful horizontal strip of fringe, were painstakingly shaped compressed cocoons. Subtly perforated color-flecked rib knits in gray and darkest green were stitched with ribbon down the torso. The only discordant note between venue and collection sounded when the strapped overalls came down the catwalk: They were a bitmeccanico del treno.Buttons were clustered at the center of garments, which stretched the eye’s expected perspective. The shades of gray jacquard, a print of what looked like hoofprints on the snow at midnight, and white painted daubs on black background provided the visual texture. Afterward, the audience trailed away like commuters on the last train from Fall ’16. Doma said of his venue: “It was very symbolic. Because for the last two collections we have been transitioning from Paris—we were changing staff and ateliers—and this is the first one that feels like it was completely done in Milan. I feel I have arrived.”
17 January 2016
The plaintive refrain that rings through Milan everyFashion Weekgoes thus: "Where are all the young designers? Who's got a different voice?" So although he's a transfer from Paris, the arrival ofDamir Domais something for locals to relish. He's a jolt of beard-scratchy thoughtfulness in a town whose fashion business is gripped by the sleek; a bit of spiritual underground to offset all the commercial overground.Doma held his first Italian womenswear show in two adjacent garages behind Via Torino, which gave it that most blessed of elements, outdoor space. On a rough-and-ready catwalk of chipped concrete, the designer showed some comely new variations on his severe and monastic metier. Crisp papery cotton—in all-white, checks, or darkened navy strafed by stripes—was melded into restrainedly asymmetrical shapes given depth by fold and knot. A loose micro-check overcoat was satisfyingly gathered by a looped closure. The burnt-out opaque jumpsuits were a touch iffy—had the unreconstructed testosterone that courses through Milan dosed DD?—but the same fabric incorporated into patched degradé black trousers worked well. Afil coupeof distressed abstract shapes was deeply Doma: palely interesting, austere, moody. It suits this designer to be close to the production of his clothes, and it suits this city to host him.
27 September 2015
To be a viewer of Damir Doma's relocated-to-Milan show felt a little like a privilege. Doma takes the essential elements of the matter with which we dress ourselves—textures, volumes, colors (more strictly the lack thereof), and silhouettes—and then by refusing to overly elaborate, elegantly explains their potential. Crisp cotton and raw undyed linen were fashioned into tunics, shifts, or monkishly simple soft overcoats worn over sackcloth-puritan, rough-weave shirts. Black, white, and olive judo jackets were shorn of their combative stance and redrawn as raiments of ostentatious serenity. The grandest decorative flourish here was the transposal of netting from its literal form into the relief on overcoats and trousers. The net was cast again, this time golden, on a girl: hints of Hephaestus.Sometimes Doma's clothes seemed almost clinically sterile—the uniform at some futuristic private hospital for minimalists. At others, especially when agate amulets and netting were combined, they seemed like the kind of things worn by some little-known pagan Hebridean tribe afflicted by compulsive mournfulness. When more processed pieces did emerge—a soft pink jacket with a roughly chopped notch collar and pin-tuck seaming, for instance, or a collarless jacket and pants hewn in a jacquard of gray flecks on black—it was startling. Pre-show, Doma said his themes were elemental, "bleached by the sun and energy taken out by the salt—I tried to keep it very simple." These clothes would be hard to wear unobtrusively to the supermarket, but they were indeed serene to watch.
22 June 2015
Damir Doma's collections have long excelled in subdued gender fluidity. This season, even the most cursory glance revealed that his Fall men's and women's collections closely informed and reflected one another. "Women's was born from men's," he said, adding that these days, "it's about trusting that balance." The irony, in both collections, was that his idea of balance manifested itself as chalk-stripe asymmetrical jackets and imperfect selvage finishes. But by using this jagged trim as a decorative element, Doma added dimension to the planes of his knitwear and softness to the borders of his shirting. Elsewhere, his approach to detail was more indirect and intriguing, whether highlighting the patterning of his delicate jacquards with a sulfuric yellow underpinning or giving the impression of wear and tear in a complex knitted patchwork dress. His use of embellishment is so judicious that each horn toggle or twisted strand of hand-dyed jute embroidery felt like something symbolic.On hangers, Doma's clothing often gives a false reading: flat with a downward thrust. On the body, though, a sleeve extends from a sloped shoulder and runs angularly around the arm; a roomy draped skirt held up by wide straps sits seductively flush along the hips. Try as you might to wrap your head around the disconnect, you'd be better off just wrapping yourself in one of his double-layer shirts.
6 March 2015
Damir Doma's collections have long excelled in subdued gender fluidity. This season, even the most cursory glance revealed that his men's and Pre-Fall women's collections closely informed and reflected one another. "Women's was born from men's," he said, adding that these days, "it's about trusting that balance." The irony, in both collections, was that his idea of balance manifested itself as chalk-stripe asymmetric jackets and imperfect selvage finishes. But by using this jagged trim as a decorative element, Doma added dimension to the planes of his knitwear and softness to the borders of his shirting. Elsewhere, his approach to detail was more indirect and intriguing, whether highlighting the patterning of his delicate jacquards with a sulfuric yellow underpinning or giving the impression of wear and tear in a complex knitted patchwork dress. His use of embellishment is so judicious that each horn toggle or twisted strand of hand-dyed jute embroidery felt like something symbolic.On hangers, Doma's clothing often gives a false reading: flat with a downward thrust. On the body, though, a sleeve extends from a sloped shoulder and runs angularly around the arm; a roomy draped skirt held up by wide straps sits seductively flush along the hips. Try as you might to wrap your head around reconciling the disconnect, you're better off just wrapping yourself in one of his double-layer shirts.
23 January 2015
Rich and humble. That's how Damir Doma described the work of the "fiber artist" Sheila Hicks that inspired the stratified, hole-peppered, patch-knit material in this collection. But those words apply just as well to the rest of Doma's Fall '15 study in texture and touch. Like so many this season, this menswear collection was flecked with women's Pre-Fall, and here the two genders rubbed up against one another with particular sympathy and, where appropriate, symmetry. For the men, a women's knit dress shortened into a sweater, differently textured at the arm, shoulder, and body, each section demarcated by a worried woolen ridging. High, accented-pleat felt trousers were held by long, thin leather belts decorated with horn ovals; a skewed shawl collar was worn over a scarf in the same material that provided ovoid extensions. This was gently abstract stuff—Doma says he thinks of himself as a sculptor—but his soft-shouldered cashmere overcoats were gut-level desirable. Finely done, bar the nipple-flashing yellow cashmere under-sweaters.
22 January 2015
The sounds of nature have abounded at the shows this season: birdsong, waves crashing. Even a designer as urban-minded as Damir Doma is thinking about the beach. You can hardly blame him: With his signature collection, a lower-priced line, and a men's offering, Doma is looking at upward of 10 collections a year. His modern customer is just as busy, if she's anything like jewelry makers Annette and Phoebe Stephens of Anndra Neen, longtime clients who collaborated with Doma on the show's necklaces and bracelets.The idea of escape infused the new collection with a subtle ease. Doma's not the kind of guy who makes dresses from striped towels. Jackets sashed closed, instead of buttoned; a halter dress was suspended from a scarf that he wound through large leather grommets; tanks and tees were made from a mesh-like lace, as cool as a breeze. "I would like my woman to breathe a bit more," he said backstage. Making customers' lives easier is often code for boring clothes, but Doma's approach to wardrobe staples was unexpected and thoughtful. Denim, for instance, was cut into pajama shapes, doubling the comfort factor. And he romanced other familiar items, cutting a pantsuit in a navy fil coupe or adding sheer insets to an understated little black dress. The athletic ribbed collars and waistbands were a little predictable; sports references are tending to feel played out. Otherwise, Doma's day at the beach was a very pleasant trip.
24 September 2014
Damir Doma showed his Spring collection without models. Well, there were seven young model-slash-artists who appeared in a six-minute non-narrative video (directed by Carlotta Manaigo and Frode Fjerdingstad). But for all intents and purposes, his presentation was deliberately inanimate, with twelve mannequins staged in front of an undulating backlit screen, like an art installation where touching was encouraged. Earlier in the day, Doma had emphasized how he believes in creating content around his collections; in addition to the video, he produced an ambitious newsletter—more like a published mood board—to better convey his inspirations and artistic image. Midway through was a page of coupled words, likesymmetry askew,unplanned pattern,andeveryday rearranged.Usually this type of conceptual trend-speak does little to explain how a garment comes to be, but here each idea nicely captured different facets of the designer's thoughtful and deceptively detailed collection. You would never guess, for instance, that the recurring spotted pattern originated from the speckling on an orchid's petals. To see Doma propose a floral print is to realize how far he has come from his dark beginnings.Textural lightness was just as surprising; irregular perforations in a crisp shirt were the result of laser cutting in a way that echoed Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. And there was something effortlessly pleasing about a gauzy gray funnel-neck layer that enriched a basic white T-shirt. Equally impressive was the reimagined waistcoat in an ivory jacquard fil coupe with polished magnetic closures. Utility and function often bolstered Doma's designs, whether dimensional pockets on tapered trousers and shorts or width-adjusting Velcro straps along the back hemline of each leg. Georgia O'Keeffe, Lee Miller, and Lincoln Kirstein showed up on T-shirts, their faces abstracted. But Doma's intention was neither art statement nor fashion statement; that the experience challenged norms was statement aplenty.
25 June 2014
Hours before Damir Doma presented his Spring menswear with no models and no show, he did a walk-through of his Resort collection. Whereas the menswear materializes from what Doma would want to wear, he explained that the womenswear demands more reflection—and that gradually, with each season, his idea of the Damir Doma woman has become clearer. It's true that there was a subdued confidence to this offering, which benefited from fluid tailoring and body-grazing pleated separates. Doma applied a softy pleated ribbon of fabric to one side of a jacket and a subtle metal hook to the other, creating a closure system that was simultaneously adjustable and waist defining. The two prints were both painted by hand; one as controlled narrow strips, the other à la Jackson Pollock. And Doma showed both in their "negative" colorways to add variety while maintaining a through-line. After spending years preoccupied with texture, the designer said that print invites a new way of conveying surface interest. You could see how much he is thinking about his womenswear, even when the piece is as seemingly simple as a crisp white shirt with truncated kimono sleeves, or the detail is as seemingly insignificant as a ribbed insert. While the total statement lacked oomph, the easy femininity—whether in a side-tying robe coat or an asymmetric plissé dress—was there. Doma also added in a few crossover men's pieces, such as a finely pleated bomber; it seems like he rightly senses that women may want to wear what he wears, too.
24 June 2014
There are dueling impulses at work in Damir Doma's new Fall collection. On the one hand, he's eager to assert his designer bona fides; on the other, he's not quite ready to let go of being the cool kid. First the serious stuff: Doma has raised the bar with his fabrics. From the burgundy and denim-blue jacquard that he used for a loose-fitting day dress to the burnout velvet of an evening number, there was a richness and depth to his materials that felt new. It might make the clothes more expensive than they've been in the past. Doma also embraced classic tailoring: A petrol blue double-breasted officer's coat and a wrapped style in fuzzy ombré mohair looked on-trend. He's never seemed too concerned with trends before, but he proved himself quite up to the job here. As for those cool bits, Doma sent a keyhole sweater down the runway with a fraying hem, and there was a plaid skirt peeking from beneath that double-breasted coat, a hint of the grunge imperfections hidden beneath a sophisticated exterior. The push/pull dynamic—elegance tempered by edge, and vice versa—looked a lot like real life. These clothes will find clients.
25 February 2014
What's the French for "kicking it up a notch"? Damir Doma is keen to elevate his signature label, and he worked hard this season to get that point across. He's hitched up with the manufacturer of Maison Martin Margiela's shoes for a line of his own, and he made it clear that the quality of his materials (a navy fils coupe, a spongy three-dimensional mesh—texture was key) has never been higher. Since launching his women's collection in 2011, Doma has tried on different sensibilities, vacillating between artsy, austere, and hip. He's had his successes, but his clothes have rarely looked as grown-up or as polished as a pair of slim-but-not-tight sleeveless sheaths he did here. The version in a graphic green, black, gray, and white knit was especially compelling. Also sharp: a neatly tailored jacket with raw-edged lapels. Brancusi-inspired buttons and brooches spotted here and there on outerwear made for an eloquent finishing touch.
20 January 2014
Earnestis not a word thrown around often in fashion conversations. It stood out when Damir Doma called it his goal for the season. "We live in a moment when fashion is borderline entertainment," he said. "I wanted to do an earnest and very direct collection. Things I want to wear, and you want to wear."Over the course of almost three weeks of shows in Europe, it's startling how rare that sentiment turns out to be. Doma himself has in the past given it a fairly wide berth: He's displayed a durable interest in experimentation and boundary breaking, which has often made his runways seem like dry runs for those parodies of real life seen on magazine pages. Today, by contrast, he said, "There are no tricks with styling."That sounds like fighting talk, but it doesn't need to be. Commercial viability and artistic integrity aren't mutually exclusive. Here, they fitted nicely hand in hand. This may have been Doma's straightest collection to date—less charmed by its own curiosity. The tweaks were on a subtler register, principally relating to the elevation of texture. The pieces had the pragmatic appeal of workwear done Doma style, in jacquard fil coupe and alpaca, trailing wispy hairs like abstract animal prints. The closest thing to a gimmick was the sleeve detail, with contrasting fabric creeping up the arm past the elbow. Viewed from the comfortable distance of a runway audience—one that seemed shorter than in seasons past—they gave the look of a pair of long gloves. Call them an earnest signal of Doma's new willingness to get his hands dirty.
15 January 2014
A season ago, Damir Doma's collection felt dour. But over the course of the summer, he made a correction. Backstage, he reported that his trip to Florence's Pitti trade show, where he was invited to present his Resort collection, was a fairly life-affirming rite of passage. Apparently, he's still basking in the afterglow. For Spring, he displayed a renewed interest in decoration and color, and they warmed up his familiar asceticism.Doma started off with all-white looks in graphic lines. A cotton dress sliced diagonally down the front revealed the all-in-one underneath, while a horizontal vent on the back of a crisp sleeveless jacket exposed a flash of skin. Khaki dresses, meanwhile, were built from the elements of trenchcoats. Business as usual for Doma. But then came the polka dots. Printing them would've proved too heavy-handed, so instead he laser-cut them, adding a sense of feminine froth to everything from boxy linen T-shirts to skirts whipped up in silk plissé.The show came alive when Doma injected color. Tiger-lily orange looked particularly strong paired with a black and white check, although bright yellow also resonated. He came back to a trio of little black dresses at the end, but he kept them light with the polka dots or with an asymmetric sleeve. A much improved effort.
24 September 2013
It's been a long season for Damir Doma. The designer presented his men's collection in Paris on Saturday, just back from having shown, for the first time ever, his women's Resort collection on the runway, as the invited guest of Pitti Immagine in Florence. It was perhaps inevitable that the two read as chapters of the same story. "I'm just one designer," Doma said after the show. "The collections go hand in hand."The reduced palette—white, Yves Klein blue, amethyst—connected the two, as did the gridded prints and a spotted laminate fabric that had a hint of flypaper to it. But while the women's collection was notable in its hugging of the body, the men's silhouettes exaggerated it to outré effect. Doma played with raglan sleeves, sloping them around shoulders to emphasize their swoop. Pleated pants added volume, emphasized all the more by those that buttoned at the cuff, and the waist became a particular point of emphasis. The high-waisted pants were more awkward than appealing, but Doma hit on an interesting idea by topstitching the waist panels of a Saharienne to add contour without elasticity.Doma has always operated at a remove from the reigning trends in men's fashion. His embrace of the muscular, exaggerated silhouette, with its shades of the Mugler/Montana eighties, left him a bit out of context with the season. But with new investment behind him, a recently opened Paris store, and the better production that money affords, he was reveling in a newfound confidence. The odd decals that decorated a few of his pieces—faces, places—were what he called "memory patches," excerpts from the private mood boards he creates for himself and his team every season. He'd always kept them out of the spotlight, but he's now self-assured enough to show his hand. "They connect the clothes with my references," he said.
28 June 2013
Damir Doma has been typecast as a worshipper of the dark. But times are changing. The designer showed his new women's collection as the invited guest of Pitti Immagine in Florence tonight, and as the sun set over the outdoor gardens of the Giardino Corsini, there emerged a collection that was light, sensual, and shot through with rich colors. Afterward, Doma was still marveling over the mise-en-scène of the thing. "You come to Pitti for this kind of experience," he said. He'd found out he'd been invited just after his last women's collection, one dedicated to office workers and their grayscale working wardrobes. "I saw fourteen places," he said, before picking this one. "The moment you know where you're going to show, you think about how it will look."The slash of royal-purple jacquard that sliced through—maybe better to say spliced onto—the black-and-white printed dress was a clear sign that he'd leapt out of the shadows for what he called his most graphic collection ever. It had surprise on its side. "Sometimes it's one step back and two steps forward," Doma said.There were backward glances here, and references to archival bits of the label's history: the live accompanist, plunking out snatches of show soundtracks past on a piano, and key items from seasons gone by, like the patch-pocketed skirts and side-tie jackets that reappeared tonight. But Doma is working hard and well to advance his own cause. There was more sexiness in this collection, with its cinched-in emphasis on the waist and cutout bustier tops, than there has been before. Sexy is what you think about in Italy, Doma shrugged shyly. But he would know. He's been spending more and more time here over the past few months, thanks to the recent signing of a new factory in Novara, one whose other clients are in the indisputable big leagues: Chanel, Burberry, Givenchy. "I've got a lot of new tools in my hands," he said. This collection left the lingering impression that he's still acclimating himself to the tools at his disposal and the world he has wrought. It's too soon to tell, but that might just be the wavering start of the next step forward.
18 June 2013
Damir Doma set himself a difficult task this season, trying to make a persuasive case for office drab. Backstage he was talking about a "neo-corporate woman." On the runway, he opened with a trio of looks in boardroom gray: a ruched-collar popover top and tapered trousers, a cropped jacket and swingy skirt, a side-zip dress. On the models' feet: sturdy shoes with thick soles over sheer pantyhose, which conjured thoughts of the sneakers that workingwomen sometimes wear for their commutes. So far, so flat.Doma's Spring show qualified as a breakthrough. It makes sense for the designer, who already has his own store despite his still-tender age, to design clothes for urbanites' real lives. Here, though, he backpedaled too far on what made Spring great: color, for one thing, but also a looser, cooler sensibility. The Fall show did improve as it went on. A sleeveless dress tied at the waist with superfluous leather sleeves had an appealing ease, and the fuzzily abstracted houndstooth motif Doma used for a pantsuit added a bit of an edge to the proceedings. An oversize charcoal coat with four narrow stripes at the hem was also strong. And it wasn't all shades of gray. A vivid raspberry added some dimension to Doma's office separates. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to turn this collection around.
26 February 2013
Damir Doma's rue St. Honoré store is six months old. The designer is a quick study—having observed that "women buy the easier things," he made them the focus of his new pre-fall collection. Scaling back the capital-F fashion of his Spring show gave Doma's signatures more breathing room. His years in menswear mean he's good with a boyish-cut pantsuit; this time around it came in a soft washed black corduroy with leather piping. He used the same corduroy for a slouchy A-line skirt that was paired with the other star of the collection, a cool sweater in a slightly oversize, elongated shape that was hole-punched in a python pattern. The knits were a highlight here; perhaps no surprise, considering Doma's menswear show riffed on seventies German ski clubs. Also satisfying his accessible-with-an-edge criteria was a long-sleeved dress with a pointy, asymmetrical hem in a nubby silk of his own design.
20 January 2013
"I wanted to do something more modern, more futuristic," Damir Doma said backstage after his show. Funny way he has of going about it. He dug back through his own past for a collection that had, uncommonly for the designer, elements of nostalgia, even retro. With its knit ski caps and novelty (well, about as novel as he gets) alpine sweaters, Doma saw it as a seventies German ski club. At least one observer looked at the multi-pleated pants and the alpine ambition and saw further back still, to the gentlemen explorers and mountaineers of the thirties. But pleats have always been a Doma staple, and dating the collection isn't much the point anyway. More important than time was place: This was Doma at his least nomadic. The elements from international cultures he once borrowed so freely were streamlined in favor of pieces that, despite occasionally challenging proportions, looked positively urbane. ("It's a more urban reality," he confirmed.) Like so many other designers this season, he played with some of the more traditional fabrics and patterns of menswear—plaid, corduroy, gray suiting wool—and created looks that were cousins of the business suit. Even these had a ski-racer graphicism, thanks to the contrast stripes that ran across some shoulders and down backs and sides, but untuck the jackets from the nylon waistbands of Doma's carrot-shaped trousers and you more or less had office wear. Which then sent the alpine sweaters, beanies, and blown-back hair to the realm of weekend-warrior getaway. Work, play? It was positively bourgeois. "I wanted to be more confident," the designer said. It made for a change, but not an unwelcome one.
18 January 2013
Charting the careers of young fashion talents, we've come to observe a phenomenon we'll call the click moment. It's when an up-and-coming designer figures out how to get out of his own head and get into the head of his customers. Damir Doma had his click moment today. In the past, his collections have suffered from a persistent dreaminess. Last season, for example, he looked back to the Renaissance for ideas. For Spring, as he said backstage, he wanted to be "more clear in message." It was no struggle to picture these clothes in his newly opened shop on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and we're confident there were plenty of women in the crowd who'd like to see some of these pieces in their closets.The medium of Doma's message was collage, a trend that's gotten a lot of play on this month's runways. Doma combined military-issue olive drab, quilted black leather, and marled gray fleece for a boxy cropped jacket and paired it with baggy silk pants. If it looked like he'd absorbed some recent Balenciaga-isms at times, a sleeveless, zip-front shift that combined military green cotton, blue silk, and black leather with a wide red-brown belt was a hit entirely his own. We'll go ahead and call it an underdog contender for day dress of the season. Tailored pantsuits, meanwhile, were cut from leather in front and textural jacquard in back. Sometimes such combos can feel forced; here they just clicked.
25 September 2012
Damir Doma opened up shop on Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré on Sunday. A store to call his own (and after only five years in the business) is reason enough to deliver a sharp, sellable Resort collection, but the designer said he had another good excuse, too. "When I went back to look at Fall, I think I went too costumey," he said of his most recent show. "I decided to take out the strong bits and do them in a more cool and effortless way." Step one was to introduce denim to the lineup. His jeans came in a blue so faded they were nearly white and with a crossover waistband. Paired with a lapel-less linen blazer in the same almost-blue shade and cinched with a black leather belt, they met both his criteria for success. Same goes for a tank dress made from texturized black silk. Fitted through the torso, it fell loosely from the waist to below the knees with the kind of everyday ease that will make girls reach for it again and again.
2 July 2012
Damir Doma's collections often have a priestly air. He's been accused of having a one-track mind: sect, not sex. There's some justice to these claims. But Doma used this, his tenth menswear collection, to push forward. "I wanted to do something very light, very confident," he said. "It's about finding a new perspective for my work, getting away from my comfort zone."Suddenly, there was color where there used to be only black and gray. (A sweater blocked in primary shades was positively a shock.) Doma said he'd envisioned his outfits, with their giant pockets and newspaper straps, as providing in single looks everything a guy would need for a day at the beach. Thebeach? When pressed, the designer admitted he's not much for the place himself.More traditional elements of menswear infiltrated his work than ever before. Perfecto jackets made an appearance; so did a three-button suit. He experimented with denim for the first time with his baggy, carrot-shaped trousers.Acolytes of his former darkness will find plenty to sate their needs. Long, pleated bermudas fit the bill, as well as leather-sleeved knits and paneled pants. As with any new venture, there were risks that didn't pay off, in addition to rewards. The balance inclined a bit to the former. But as his well-attended show attests, Doma has solidified his place on the Paris schedule, not to mention his place on the Paris street: His first boutique, on Faubourg Saint-Honoré, opened two weeks ago.
29 June 2012
"Modern Renaissance" were the words Damir Doma used backstage to describe his new collection. That's a tricky proposition. We know the era best from costume dramas and art museums—where are the connections between the Renaissance and real life as it's lived today? Some of Doma's propositions erred on the historical side: A quilted leather tabard, worn like a coat of armor on top of a fur jacket, cut a striking figure, but it also looked like an extra step that postmillennial women probably don't have the time or inclination to take.Fortunately, Doma didn't rely too heavily on such pieces. The crux of the collection was up-to-date tailoring in shades of black, brown, dark red, and orangey pink. The only thing that said sixteenth-century about his suede blazer, button-front blouse, and crossover-waistband pants was the oversize cross pendant they were accessorized with. A black lace cardigan and T-shirt worn with dévoré shorts looked equally contemporary. Doma also gets points for his commitment to flat slippers and boots—that's a step a modern girl can really get behind.
28 February 2012
Damir Doma's pre-fall lineup had the same multiethnic sensibility as his men's collection. "Bohemian techno" is how he described that show last week. The emphasis here was on bohemian, with capes and dressy shorts inspired by raw carpets, a high-necked blouse in a print lifted from an Oriental rug, and a pantsuit constructed from a tapestry-like fabric. Many-stranded necklaces of chunky beads added to the effect, along with even chunkier fur vests and coats.Still, the results were resolutely urban. Doma confessed to growing up a Helmut Lang fan (he's Croatian but lived in southern Germany, close to the Austrian border), and he clearly absorbed the design star's modernist tendencies. The big takeaway here was Doma's strong yet soft tailoring.
24 January 2012
Huns on parade opened Damir Doma's new show. The designer, better known for his darker, drapier, more minimal creations, was dreaming of travel. "It's a new perspective on my work," he explained before the show. He exported his sensibility to the corners of the globe, drawing on African, Slavic, and Asian costumes—or maybe more precisely, he imported their sensibilities into his. The shapes were still recognizably Doma, from the drop-crotch carrot pants to the fluttering, blouse-like tops and oversize knits. But new play with pattern and the introduction of fur added dimension and richness to the offerings. Doma said that, several seasons into his menswear line, he's comfortable enough with his own aesthetic to begin pushing it beyond his comfort level. (The same goes for his casting, which was, fittingly, more international.) The best pieces played up a lushness that his darker work sometimes lacks. When two vividly colored kimono tops closed the show, they felt like a long-promised reward.
20 January 2012
Damir Doma's monkish phase may be over. His Spring collection had a warmer sensibility than his Fall lineup did—and not just because he relied so much on that gorgeous shade of burnished gold. There was still evidence that he was a menswear designer first; it came in the form of sweeping cloaks in washed silk or jackets tailored with cuffed shirtsleeves. One of the show's most memorable looks was a papery gold leather jacket edged in burnt plum, tossed over a long, draped navy dress.It was the draping that was the surprise. Doma's focus on it gave the collection a classical, almost Grecian sensibility that was complemented by the long brass paillettes that decorated the necklines of dresses and the lapels of jackets. Strappy gladiator flats added to the picture, as did brass collier necklaces accentuated with pyrite or agate. The collection never inched into costume territory, though: Doma has been studying the way today's city girls like to wear layers—jacket, floaty top, slouchy shorts (in silk plissé or delicate lace); menswear blazer over a lace dress. In another positive development, Doma opted out of last season's strange, distracting hairnet headgear and black lipstick. His models glowed right along with the clothes.
27 September 2011
Damir Doma titled his Spring '12 menswear collection Into Rooms of Light, and it did feel as if the Croatian/German designer, who trained with Raf Simons before striking out on his own, had, for a change, let a little light in. Dark have been Doma's rooms, season in and season out. His much-layered, loose aesthetic is built by piling piece on piece, but for the most part, they've come in basic black. There's austerity there, one that has a certain monk's-robes chic, but it has felt a little bleak in the past.This season, Doma said he'd been thinking of William Klein'sRomeand its "opulent decay." It was the opulence, not the decay, that made this new collection more interesting than previous outings. The designer hasn't abandoned the layered look he favors, but he's sharpened it by pulling in the straps—often literally. He didn't stint on belts, harnesses, or buckles. Paired with multi-strap sandals, they lent a gladiatorial tone. We are in Rome, after all. Maybe that's why the best looks here felt pagan, contra Doma's usual monasticism. He's been making drop-crotch shorts for about as long as he's been in business, but they felt fresh for a moment again when they came out in gilded lambskin. They were worn not with layers of swaddling cloth but with a simple, almost classic one-button blazer (a reminder that Doma can tailor as well as he can pile) and an open-weave sweater (he can reveal as well as hide). They lit up the dark.
24 June 2011
Damir Doma's favorite kind of woman looks fragile, but acts strong. "The kind of woman in a photograph by Deborah Turbeville," he said backstage. That dichotomy played out in the designer's Fall collection, which juxtaposed his tailoring—he designed menswear before launching his women's line three seasons ago with pieces that were soft to the touch: a navy Mongolian lamb fur vest and jacket tipped in white, a ponyskin miniskirt and swing jacket printed in leopard. "I'm putting the focus on dresses and pushing it in a feminine direction," he added.But only up to a point. Doma's aesthetic is a minimal one; he prefers a clean, uncluttered silhouette. Meaning you won't be seeing girlish frills on his runway anytime soon. Or high heels. Doma's models wore creepers. And as for those dresses he promised, more often than not they looked like tabards worn over leggings or a shorter skirt. They weren't quite monastic, but they certainly weren't come-hither either. To convey the femininity he was going for, Doma turned to color: a lamé skirt the shade of a penny came teamed with a matching Lurex-shot knit shell and a pair of bicep-accenting copper cuffs.Last season's bare midriffs and sheer fabrics revealed a somewhat tenuous grasp on what real women need and shop for. It's still the subtle tailoring that stands out here, but those furs and ponyskins point to a new understanding.
1 March 2011
Croatian-born, Paris-basedDamir Domaisn't one for embellishments, even of a functional variety—you'll never see zippers or hooks on his clothes. Not even a button slips past his watchful eye: The designer, who worked under Raf Simons and began in menswear before branching into women's two seasons ago, has a near fetish for the unbroken line. He's similarly austere about color. Black, white, and gray; long, loose, and often layered: That's the Doma philosophy.For pre-fall, the designer envisioned a "very classic, luxury women's wardrobe." It's a streamlined and sinuous take on those classics, one that betrays his Belgian training. His wide, floor-length pants sit high on the waist and are worn with an elongated, men's-style shirt; a strong-shouldered tuxedo jacket comes with its satin shawl collar inset, the merest suggestion of a lapel. Long dresses in jersey and silk crepe skirts with asymmetrical panels round out the collection. There are pieces here that the gallerinas of the world will no doubt be keen to add to their racks of Ann Demeulemeester and Helmut Lang. And if it occasionally feels a little ascetic, there's the consolation of a square-cut cape of Mongolian lamb.
20 January 2011
The name Damir Doma will be familiar to those who pay attention to the menswear beat, where he's been gaining increasing accolades over the past four years. Doma made his womenswear debut here last season with a collection that transposed his signature dark and layered tailoring (he's Croatian-born but Belgian-trained) onto the female form. But the designer was thinking differently for his sophomore outing, which he described in his show notes as the Damir Doma woman "emerging as her own being."True to his word, this outing took a far softer approach. It was also sexy at times, with cropped racerback tanks exposing lots of skin, and silk dresses in long, lean silhouettes that had the subtle oomph of sheer fabrics and gently knotted waists. But the look was chic, not vulgar or, worse, unwearable. Though the show notes mentioned a woman free from "the rib of man," there was still evidence of that original bone of an idea here. But Doma worked to lighten up jackets—both wool and leather—with chiffon lapels that had a lovely flutter as models walked, and elsewhere he layered long blazers with barely there sheer skirts and pants.There was a serene quality to the proceedings, but it was actually an attempt at spirituality that tripped up this solid step forward—an onslaught of marigolds and saffron yellows, colors that require delicate handling and much smaller doses.
28 September 2010