A Better Mistake FW23 Designs Punkish "ALTER-EGOS"

Founded in 2020, Milanese fashion label A Better Mistake prioritizes provocation. Challenging fashion’s traditions with creative disobedience and genderless design codes, the imprint’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, titled “ALTER-EGOS,” continues to prod with an identity-shifting wardrobe.

During Milan Fashion Week, models presented each ensemble on a monolith of mirrors while performing choreography by movement designer Macia Del Prete to the sounds of Berlin-based artist Metaraph. The set-up juxtaposed a kaleidoscopic showcase with the collection’s deeper meaning: where lights beamed through a prism to generate colors, dancers’ reflections in the surrounding mirror represented their different identities.

Across the collection, colors possessed distinct human qualities. Among them, yellow represented extroversion, red stood for passion, pink recalled
childhood and black depicted introspection. Performers’ true identities were concealed by silicone masks, allowing the collection’s colors and the production’s reflections to define their “alter-egos.” In the last act, however, masks were ripped off, revealing each model’s true character.

With an international team, A Better Mistake champions sustainable design practices, selecting its materials and producing them entirely in Italy in extremely limited quantities. Made from fabrics obtained from warehouse waste, silhouettes maximized movement with oversized shapes.

Suits and skirts were made from tartan, while coats were constructed with recycled wool. Organic cotton was weaved throughout the range, and old leather was similarly made new. Meanwhile, loud lettering, reading “MISTAKE,” appeared across the front of bold-colored T-shirts; a saturated pink check commanded formalwear, and punkish graphics found their place on every design.

Peruse A Better Mistake’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection in the gallery above.

In more fashion news, Michael B. Jordan stars in Calvin Klein’s Spring/Summer 2023 campaign.