A mix of ready-to-wear and haute couture, it evokes the incompleteness of the faded frescoes on the 600-year-old walls and fragmented artefacts. The show itself was a burst of life in an otherwise frozen-like state of architectural ruin, which is, as the studio explained, “permanently on hold, frozen in time and ultimately dead.”

Presentation of the trans-seasonal collection took place on 2nd September, but without a soul in the audience. Models walked down a vaulted-ceiling space framed by columns, set by dramatic lighting and eerily, echoey sounds and voices all captured on livestream.

From avant-garde golden-faced models to medieval-shaped dresses and corsets, Azzopardi played with dramatic colours, textures and even a graphic t-shirt got a feature. And despite being an online show, you can still feel that mysterious emotion of being in the presence of religious sacredness. 

The event was the culmination of many creative collaborations, which the studio has now become renowned for. While the experience and set was designed by Andrew Borg Wirth, the soundtrack for the project has been created by JOON (Yasmin Kuymizakis). 3D Mapping was designed by Philip Sultana, while the hair & makeup looks have been created by Hair&Co and Gabrielle Zammit Grungo and Roberta Sultana respectively.

The project was coordinated by studio manager Becky Micallef, and creative consultancy and art direction is in the hands of ANCC Studios. This project was supported by Arts Council Malta through their project support grant, and is in collaboration with Din L-Art Helwa, Malta Airport Foundation, Ecabs & Camilleri Paris Mode Ltd.

What do you think of the collection?