Sportmax presented its Autumn-Winter 2023 Runway Show: stripping back and peeling off to lay bare and go back to the origin of things. A call to nature at once pure and wild in which androgyny, the encounter of masculine/feminine energy, is the absolute expression of freedom.

The collection’s concept is informed by revisiting the work of artists/photographers such as Peter Hujar, Robert Mappelthorpe and Nan Goldin, similarly devoted to bringing to light the beauty often hidden in the shadows, resulting in a powerful crossroad between high art and marginal life. Those seen through their lenses came to similarly personify the conundrum existing in the act of laying bare one’s skin as well as one’s soul, a permanent walk in the fine line between intimacy and exposure, glamour and decadence, vulnerability and armour.

The act of being oneself is per se a revolution and to celebrate one’s skin even a more powerful one.The collection gives way to a continuous game of contrasts between bourgeois elegance, primitive chic and glam androgyny. Sartorial tailoring is defined by bold shoulders and wide-leg trousers, a look inspired by both zoot suits and teddy boys.

The essential timelessness of 90s dresses come to the fore through straight, knee-length skirts and bold layering that enlivens silhouettes that are sheer, and transparent, enveloping the body as it twists and turns. Colors run the gamut, from neutral skin tones, beiges and camels to browns that come to life in hues of cinnamon, caramel, ginger, all of them complemented by delicate peach and punctuated with absolute black. Accessories come to life through an unexpected mix of metal and botanical accents.

The runway show unfolds in the curated intimacy of a grunge garage, furnished with tattered sofas and accompanied by the musical composition ‘Stelle Disorientate’ by Teho Teardo.