The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2025 - Issue 38

bitecatwalk D i Petsa unveils ‘Reflections of Desire’ with a hypnotic softness in a show that feels intimate, dreamlike, and charged with a delicate sensuality. Dimitra Petsa has always treated the body as her central text, but this season she expands the language, transforming menswear into a canvas for female desire and mythic sensuality. What emerg- es is a cast of real and imagined figures: poets, muses, lovers, and deities, all shaped through the female gaze. The show begins like a spell being cast. The runway becomes a living poem, accompanied by Bodur’s ethereal soundscape and Dimitra’s own spoken word. It transcends the conven- tions of fashion, unfolding instead as a private mythology, a rhythm that shifts between tenderness and hunger, the earthly and the divine. Lace, a constant in her universe, takes on new meaning this season. It becomes jewellery, armour, and confession wrapped around the body, layered with pearls, or draped loosely as if suspended between clothing and ritual with white lace whispering across the neck, paired with pearls that slip between innocence and indulgence. Prints marked with Dimitra’s lips turn garments into keepsakes, each kiss a fragment of memory, a story someone refuses to let fade. Silhouettes explore contrasts between softness and structure, vulnerability and power, such as tailored coats with vel- vet-covered lace standing alongside sharp cuts that dissolve into cascades of drapery. Vegan leather recalls the clean lines and tension of ancient Greek sculpture. A subversive bridal moment walks the edge of purity and provocation, revealing a bride in unapologetic, unhidden, unashamed self-pleasure. Among the collection’s most striking figures is a man draped in silk, embodying a masculinity that feels tender and sacred. The knight motif returns, split between a man and a woman, united by a single pearl and a diamond-studded sword crafted with longtime collaborator Ellie Koslowsky. It is dramatic yet sincere with symbolism handled as reverence rather than spectacle. Throughout, models carry books filled with their notes, fragments, and private thoughts. Knitwear fastens with mother-of-pearl buttons placed deliberately over the heart. The collection draws attention to two centres of emotion and desire: the chest and the crotch. It feels honest, never provocative for the sake of provocation. As the models move, details emerge: bells chiming softly at the wrist, bracelets echoing like distant memories; vam- pire-sharp fangs between parted lips; icy lashes catching the light; a single teardrop glimmering against crystal. Beauty by Crystabel Riley embraces hungry, ethereal, and dangerous contrasts. Every look belongs to a larger narrative, one that weaves together the sacred, the erotic, and the unapologetically bold. ‘Reflections of Desire’ is not a seasonal collection but an exploration of longing, transforming inner tensions into something tangible, a physical expression of feelings usually left unspoken. https://dipetsa.com DI PETSA FASHION WEEK LONDON Autumn/Winter 2025