Anna Marie Galea takes in designer Luke Azzopardi’s latest offering The Tree of Life and talks about glamour and drama in the time of COVID-19.

I’ve been writing about fashion for the Times of Malta and some of its related publications for close to a decade now; in fact, my very first piece for the newspaper was about fallen hero John Galliano, who despite his disgraced exit from Dior has turned Maison Margiela into something everyone should want to own a piece of.

I’ve oftentimes said it, but I have always loved writing about fashion and continue to seek out opportunities to do so because it was one of the only spheres in our mostly grey existences where the impossible really can become possible.

Marina Plotnikova from Models M in the Green Tudor Ballgown. Photo: Kris Micallef

Even now, if I had to put the image of what I feel about good fashion into words, I would probably depict it as a dreamy half-state where you would be able to stumble through an enchanted wood, happy and hopeful; a middle ground between reality and possibility; a space unblemished by the ordinary. And fashion designer Luke Azzopardi is definitely anything but ordinary.

Thanks to the support of Arts Council Malta through the Project Support Grant, the much awaited The Tree of Life collection was finally able to be shown on September 2. Described as “a nostalgic reworking of the heavily damaged, latent medieval wall painting and decoration of the location which inspires the collection, the chapel of Bir Miftuħ”, the collection moved slightly away from its usual haute couture course and instead offered a crossover between couture and ready-to-wear: a stimulating and intelligent choice given the current climate the world finds itself in.

Indeed, it was because of the latter that I wasn’t sure what to expect. COVID-19 has taken so much of what our senses took for granted that it has become much harder to communicate with people verbally, let alone having to convey a feeling and a vision through a live feed. Yet, miraculously, and no doubt thanks to the stellar work of Andrew Borg Wirth and Philip Sultana, I was actually able to feel more part of the events that unfolded in Bir Miftuħ than I thought I would be able to, and that made all the difference.

If there’s something that Luke specialises in, it’s leaving his audience with a somewhat haunted feeling that they can’t always put their finger on. They know they’ve witnessed something great but if they had to dissect and explain what exactly it is that has left them with a lasting impression, they wouldn’t be able to. Like the man himself, the collections of his I have witnessed so far are always elusive and somewhat enigmatic, and The Tree of Life was unreservedly no different.

The stage was set for the viewer in the dark, a theme that Luke seems to have veered more towards in recent years, and in that dimness, all that one could hear was Luke’s distorted voice explaining the concept that had given birth to the collection. It was interesting to me that his voiceover was so multi-layered that all you could catch were small groups of words at once, and through these words you had to devise your own meaning. Much like the chapel itself with its fragmented, ruined paintings, you the viewer needed to be the one to fill in the blanks and make sense of what you were seeing.

Luke has always been able to find great inspiration from the concept of in-betweenness: the fine line between what nostalgically was and what it can be, and this particular show was a masterclass in everything he has picked up over the years.

Amy Zahra from Supernova Model Management in a caped Hellenistic style bridal gown. Photo: Jeremy Debattista

Like the man himself, the collections of his I have witnessed so far are always elusive and somewhat enigmatic, and The Tree of Life was unreservedly no different

The first dress to come out amidst the softer, female voice of Maria Theuma was unmistakably Luke Azzopardi. With its gauzy, billowy black skirt, its tight waist and its open corset detailing in the green that Azzopardi likes so much, it would not have looked out of place in Scarlett O’Hara’s wardrobe.

And that was just the beginning. Hot on the heels of this confection came another two black creations followed by a more pared-down silhouette of a T-shirt with black trousers – a first for Luke on the catwalk but which I’m sure will be a great success.

Gabriella Mifsud from Supernova Model Management backstage in Romantic Corseted Ensemble. Photo: Manuel Bonnici

Something that I have always liked about Azzopardi’s work is the fact that he is not scared to use different silhouettes in one sitting, and The Tree of Life was no different. From tight-fitting dresses that hugged the body, to tight dresses which fanned out at the heels, to dresses that were a billowing waterfall of lace, Azzopardi did not hold back as he delivered look after look, and reminded us of his flexibility and the ease with which his mind is able to move from one thing to the next.

The undone state that some pieces were in was not only an homage to the chapel itself but allowed the garments to appear as artefacts undergoing maintenance and only surviving in fragmented states, the focus being on the journey rather than the destination.

Although I couldn’t get as up close and personal as I usually do, I was also very much interested in the fabrics used in this collection, courtesy of Camilleri Paris Mode, because there appeared to be a somewhat wider range than usual. This could be in part due to the fact that the Luke Azzopardi brand is, after all, a sustainable couture brand, words you do not usually see put together in a sentence but which Luke and his team have vowed to pursue and which shows again the forward-thinking manner of the creator who, much like his pieces, has one foot firmly stuck in the future.

Of course, as always, the quality of the garment did not appear to be compromised in any way by the sustainability of it.

Marina Plotnikova from Models M in the Shell Pink Corseted Ensemble. Photo: Kris Micallef

With a showcase of 32 very varied looks, the collection was by no means a small one, giving me a lot of scope to play favourites, but in perhaps the most predictable way, I went the way I usually go and fell in love with a long black dress with a high gold collar that had Cleopatra necklace-like quality; a dark green off-the-shoulder dress with white chiffon coming out of the arms which I am desperate to wear to a glamourous person’s funeral; and because I’m a daughter of the early 1990s, a gorgeous cor­seted dress which exaggerated the model’s hips, à la Thierry Mugler, and which I adored so much that I would probably go to the supermarket in it if I were about four or five sizes smaller than now.

I’m always very impress­ed by the finishing of Azzopardi’s clothes and the attention he pays to detail, but this time, maybe because I had less to distract me, I was particularly enamoured with the way the chiffon (which is by no means an easy material to work with) flowed out with languid ease from under the bodices. Instead of looking awkward as it might well have done, he had a particular piece that I found so interesting because he fused together two pieces which I wasn’t expecting to pleasing effect.

From the location, and here I really must take off my cap to Din l-Art Ħelwa for being open to allowing us all to appreciate such a momentous showing, to the sumptuous backdrop of flowers and upturned chapel benches, to the music and visuals, to the clothes themselves, everything truly was a feast for all the senses and one which I have come to expect from Luke and his team time and time again.

The collection may have been built around the idea of the incompleteness of the frescoes as a moment of life in an otherwise frozen-like state, permanently on hold and in a state of never arriving, but for me, the opposite effect was had. With another promising collection for a brave new world, Luke Azzopardi continues to display his fashion prowess through confident cutting, quality finishing and his very characteristic use of muted colour. Inspired and varied, The Tree of Life delivered on everything its name, heavily laden with expectation, promised and much more.

Visit www.lukeazzopardi.com to view and buy some of the key pieces from the latest collection. The Tree of Life show can be seen in its entirety on the studio’s Facebook page: Luke Azzopardi.