16Arlington Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Between its increasingly lengthy list of stockists and the regular sightings of its handbags on editors’ arms this weekend, the momentum 16Arlington has built up over the past year has been impressive to witness. Sure, there’s an enormous amount of goodwill toward the brand’s cofounder, Marco Capaldo, who is charging forward with the plans for expansion that he and his late partner, Kikka Cavenati, had already sketched out before she died unexpectedly last October. But really, it’s the arrival of a solid 360-degree vision for the label that has cemented 16Arlington’s place in the London fashion ecosystem. The rapid evolution from its initial offering of marabou-trimmed party dresses should serve, well, as a feather in Capaldo’s cap.

Cavenati continues to serve as a North Star for Capaldo and his all-female team—given their nine-year romance and five years of building the label together, it’s not surprising that her touch will always be there. To say that’s only part of the brand’s story now is not to be dismissive of Cavenati’s life and legacy, but more to acknowledge that Capaldo is looking firmly to the future. “Obviously 16Arlington has previously been highlighted as a brand to have fun in, and I think that sensual spirit is still there, but I really wanted to show the breadth of what we do,” said Capaldo before the show. “I feel that last season really set a new tone, and I wanted to continue that.”

Where the previous collection featured beading and crystals applied in light splashes to recall teardrops, here Capaldo looked to the forget-me-not flower as his point of departure, deliberately working with more minimalist silhouettes cut from icy blue and lilac raw-edge silk satins in order to balance out his signature Swarovski crystals and faux fur. It wasn’t all sweetness and light, though. A more dangerous edge befitting of the 16Arlington woman’s after-dark exploits arrived in the form of a racy python print across ’80s-inspired power-shoulder jackets—also applied to cardigans and slinky turtleneck dresses overlaid with sequins—while a series of floor-length, all-black looks added a touch of Morticia Addams–worthy gothic glamour.

A handful of more masculine elements also spoke to Capaldo’s care and thoughtfulness when it comes to designing for the community of women that surrounds him. Historically, the modus operandi of many male designers has been to mold women to fit their own vision, no matter the force or discomfort required. It’s an attitude that Capaldo firmly rejects. For him, the woman is always the starting point, and it is hard to imagine a designer who could speak more reverentially about the group of women that surrounds him without feeling trite.

“This season, I was really trying to come to grips with the idea of being a man at the head of a womenswear label now,” he says. “I was actually looking at pieces in my personal wardrobe that Kikka would wear, so there’s a lot of tailoring but rendered in a very feminine way.” A particularly ingenious example came via Capaldo’s reinterpretation of the classically British Prince of Wales check, here abstracted into patterned crystal embellishments for an additional dose of party-ready glitz. Last season may have been a captivating prologue to 16Arlington’s future; now the first chapter of its phase as one of London’s most carefully considered and genuinely convincing next-generation brands begins.