Supriya Lele is one of the young leaders of the re-mapping of the female body in fashion. She was one of the first to suggest, design-wise, that showing the top of a hip or a slice of lower belly is something girls might want to do. How right her female-gaze suggestion was: Revealing bits of the anatomy their mothers would never have never have dared is now quite normalized.
Lele knew she was really onto something during the pandemic, when orders for her well-cut, low-cut trousers with thong-like side straps started to spike. Look 15 in her runway show—pimento-red pants with a brown taffeta one-shouldered, cropped top proved how very good she’s become at honing and owning this look until it’s become on-point chic.
This season she also made sure that her talent for swathing and asymmetically tying stretch georgette tops and satin, hip-riding pelmet skirts is something viable for all women. Paloma Elsser (who has probably been the most in-demand model at London Fashion Week) aided and abetted her point, along with a couple more women who broke Lele’s former over-reliance on mono-sized casting.
The fall show also made her step up her outerwear, with excellently cool-looking funnel-necked jackets and coats in leather. Lele has a great eye for color and a clever instinct for knowing where her peers want to go with fashion. This collection raised the potential of her brand to the next level.
