Daniel Delcore just fêted the opening of his Madison Avenue flagship in New York last week; it is his second store after London’s Bond Street, which was inaugurated in 2022. The prime locations were obviously chosen to indicate the brand’s high-end positioning—which is no small achievement for a company launched only four years ago.
While Delcore’s forte is theatrical one-of-a-kind pieces, often worn on the red carpet by the likes of Björk, Eva Green, and Florence Pugh, he also designs between-seasons collections for everyday wear delineating his favorite sci-fi vibe into less performative options. For resort, he riffed on his repertoire of sharp elongated shapes, with decorative flourishes interrupting their otherwise neat silhouettes. Case in point was a mannish black pantsuit from whose lapel an undulating volant recalling a leaf peeked out, and an oversized tailored bone-gray coat the sleeves of which opened up to reveal crystal embroideries like tiny stalagmites. On a similar note, a slender cloqué midi-skirt was inspired by the bark of an exotic tree, and the printed motifs of a soft-hued column dress evoked the veining of minerals.
Delcore is partial to tailored volumes and oversized structures, occasionally indulging in some softening through draping, ruffles, and capes. For him, sensuality seems to rhyme with simplification, and romance is inflected with abstraction. However, he appears to be leaving his carapace behind as he goes along, much like a creature shedding its skin. This collection had a convincing new sense of lightness and ease.