Mapping Momonary AW24 London Fashion Week
Momonary’s new collection effortlessly blurs and blends the boundaries between fluidity and direction. The Shanghai and London-based brand debuted at London Fashion Week on the 15th of February for their Autumn/Winter 2024 collection. Founded in 2019, the co-founders Zeng Yue and Fu Fanding collaborated with 3M’s Thinsulate Insulation. Describing their chic comfort-wear collection under the term ‘Mappa Mundi’ Momonary drives their creativity in the form of mapping and direction. Evident by their choice of collaboration and theme, Momonary has been influenced by geography and science. Yet, the brand remains loyal to their love and commitment to dynamic and feminine fashions presented in previous collections.
Located in St Mary-At Church, Momonary aimed to create an immersive and religious experience. The show began by welcoming the influx of keen individuals with poppy and light music combined with classical tracks. The choice of music played heavily into the setting and scenery before us, as the maps of Momonary began unfolding and emerging. The question of direction and comfort in a seemingly unsettling world, particularly in a womenswear collection, had me questioning how we curate fashion and distinctive style in a practical and careful way. For my first experience of a London Fashion Week Show, I began to understand the worlds these designers are trying to embark on and create.
Momonary showcased tan and pearly tones of garments garnished with hints of glittering golden highlights. It felt that the classic and chic colour palette reflected the setting of the church, signified by high gleaming chandeliers and red velvet seats. Jackets swelled with warmth with trousers and skirts cut out angularly at the knees; a beautiful combination of sharpness and softness brought skilfully to the runway. This mixture of styles balanced out the silhouette and made the bodies that wore them seem strong and bold.
The truest beauty of all to be showcased of their freshest collection was the floral accompaniments which embellished jackets, footwear, and dresses that fluttered gorgeously. Whilst watching, I felt myself capturing the feelings and sensations of the fabrics by their movement, which is highly relevant to their theme of maps and directions. Their garments mapped not only how the brand looked, but how it felt. Momonary presented opulence and casual wear within their garments.
Their lead makeup artist Jinny Kim enriched this opulence with the use of pearl body art placed on the model’s hands and legs, acting as map markers, or even commenting on the singularity and minor space humans take up in the world - a tiny pearl on an atlas of place. Individual long and thin black false eyelashes were placed on the eye as if they were spider legs. Spiders weaving their way to create their fragile web, locating their home. This idea of fragility could signify what home and comfort can be to some. It seems the brand, split between Shanghai and London, attempts to locate itself whilst occupying this liminal space between the two cities. Whilst discussing worldly purposes of direction and where we belong, it is possible that the brand itself is looking inward to locate its sense of place within the fashion sphere.
To remain practical in your dress along with retaining style and fashionable sensibilities are often thought of as separate categories. Many of us hear that we must give up our comfort and warmth for fashionable purposes, particularly women. This idea is proven laughably illegitimate by Momonary, who presented their cool styles with warm insulation inducing feminine and durable qualities in tandem.
Edited by Megan Shears, Fashion Editor
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