Jonathan Simkhai Resort 2023 Collection

Jonathan Simkhai was “thinking about shapes and geometry” as he began to work on his resort 2023 collection, and his research led him to Kandinsky’s circles. “The circle is a feminine shape, and it also has the element of infinity, it encloses everything,” Simkhai said during a recent visit to his showroom, buzzing with buyers doing their market appointments. “There are studies where they show circles and colors to children, as a way to extract how they’re feeling, and fashion is a way to express emotions: I think the Jonathan Simkhai woman dresses according to mood.”

Still, you won’t find an avant-garde interpretation of the abstract-expressionist or psychological research here. “I love inspiration and storytelling, but not at the expense of dressing women,” Simkhai said. The first look laid the groundwork for the ones ahead—a delicate white lace guipure shift dress worn over a black turtleneck and geometric cowboy boots with a graphic footbed. The guipure now comes with an emotional connection as Simkhai recently discovered that his grandfather ran a lace mill in Tehran before being force into exile after the revolution in Iran. “When he passed away my father gave me some swatches from his factory, I was like, ‘He had a lace mill and your son is a fashion designer and you failed to tell me all these years?’ But it was very inspiring,” he said, laughing. The most interesting use of the lace was as a cool necklace/cape hybrid, worn over a simple white sleeveless mock neck tee and black wide leg trousers.

Simkhai said he’s “always looking for the dichotomy: hard versus soft, and bringing different tensions together.” This was evident in a lime green miniskirt covered in clear paillettes and paired with a terracotta-toned ribbed turtleneck with a cutout at the shoulder; and a structured power suit with a strong shoulder and cutouts at the waist. The paillettes played an integral role in the collection. It was an obvious choice given the circle inspiration, but the resulting separates and slip dresses, including one in white, covered in translucent paillettes, which Simkhai paired over a wine-colored slim hooded sweater and leggings, had an undeniably cool effect.