David Koma transformed travel restrictions into otherworldly possibilities for his Resort 2021 campaign. Working entirely remotely, he assembled a global team of creatives and digital artists – including art director Polina Zakh and CG designers Komron Komron and Evgeny Mezhibovskiy – to create a strange and fantastical digital presentation.

We’ve seen some labels, like Marine Serre and TTSWTRS, begin to make exciting use of computer generated imagery partly as a response to the difficulties presented by lockdown restrictions to making traditional campaigns. While most artists who use virtual models have used scanning technology to mimic real models as closely as possible, Koma’s virtual model is built entirely from scratch. She looks almost dated in comparison, hearkening back to earlier days of computer animation and video game graphics. It also makes the work feel unique and beautifully bizarre.

Koma named his first digital protagonist Tamar M, in a nod to the 12th century Queen Tamar of Georgia. The first woman to rule Koma’s motherland, Tamar is known for her power and intellect that elevated the country to its zenith in the Middle Ages.

Tamar M is captured from angles reminiscent of those of a traditional runway as she walks through a digital dreamscape that is anything but. She walks steadily through a shifting scene, first on a strange spacecraft, then across a barren desert, through an ominously shimmering cave, until she finally emerges into paradise-like oasis. While the digital appearance of Tamar herself feels intentionally outmoded and unrealistic (perhaps we could call her post-realistic?), the production team also deploys some cutting-edge fluid and fabric effects to create scintillatingly surreal environments.

Reconnecting the digital with nature, a bespoke organic soundscape makes the film come alive. From the trilling birdsong to the subtle flutter of butterfly wings, the sounds were recorded outdoors, around the British Isles. Even the percussion effects, heard throughout the film, were created by tapping a wooden bat on the tree trunks in Epping Forest, just outside of London.

With its interesting combination of personal elements – the reference to Koma’s cultural heritage and soundscape drawn from his current home – and technology and imagery that feels suggestive of transhumanism, the campaign perfectly nails its intention of realizing a heady, escapist, digital daydream. We are all the more excited to see what gets dreamed up next.

Known for his sculptural, form-fitting dresses, the London-based designer is staying on the forefront of fashion presentation with the new digitally rendered campaign.

Had David Koma not followed his heart to a career in fashion, he would have possibly been a tennis player. His love of the sport is obvious when you consider how many times he has dressed the former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova. How many times? Well, it’s more than he can remember. Koma comes from a sporting family; his brother is a professional tennis player and has his own academy in Saint Petersburg, his father plays at least four times a week, and his mother is a former gymnast. “I always had sports around me; my father handed me a tennis racket when I was four,” said the designer from his east London atelier during a preview of his spring ’21 collection. “This season especially, I felt like I wanted to do something that I loved.”

His tennis research led him to Chris Evert, the player who wore a diamond line bracelet on court. During an early round of the U.S. Open in 1978 it broke and fell off and they had to stop play while she looked for it; thus the term tennis bracelet was coined. “I never knew that story,” he admits, “but it immediately resonated with me.” Not that Koma is ever in need of a reason to deck his collections in crystals (his sparkling showstoppers have, over the years, seduced everyone from Beyoncé to Gigi Hadid to Kendall Jenner), but he took the idea and ran with it. It manifested in lattice sweaters hand-embroidered in crystal baguettes, and other twinkling ropes woven through tennis whites cut into body-con asymmetric minidresses (these for sure wouldn’t get past the umpire on Wimbledon’s Centre Court), as well as more gimmicky spangled sweatbands, visors, and even a crystal-encrusted tennis racket.

Nineties pap shots of a post-gym Princess Di, a keen tennis player, also made an appearance on his mood board. That explains his branded sweatshirts and cycling shorts, an idea he took a step further to include matching zip-fronted Lycra jerseys. “Cyclists are suddenly in abundance around here,” he said, referring to the sharp increase he’s noticed in commuters favoring bikes over the Tube.

He filmed the video at a private house in the countryside with its own tennis court sans audience. The only downside? “Not being able to invite any guests,” he said, due to current COVID-19 rulings. “I would have loved to have staged a show there and invited 50 people to stay for dinner after,” he mused. “Maybe next time.”

“Not being able to invite any guests,” he said, due to current COVID-19 rulings. “I would have loved to have staged a show there and invited 50 people to stay for dinner after,” he mused. “Maybe next time.”

Stonehenge's huge stones in Southern England originated from the area 15.5 miles away from the historic site according to a recent study by Science Advances. Throughout the English county of Wiltshire, the sandstone boulders, or sarsens, were moved from the West Woods. The sarsens reach up to 30 feet in height and weigh about 25 tons. 

"We have not known until recently that provenance of a stone like sarsen was possible," David Nash, the lead author of the report, said in a statement. "It was very exciting to use the science of the 21st century to understand the Neolithic history and to address a question that archaeologists have been debating for centuries." 

Nash believes the stones were moved eastward down the Wiltshire Avon Valley or along a western path through Salisbury Plain. Researchers used a portable fluorescent X-ray spectrometry to study the stones. "Subsequently, the researchers conducted inductively combined plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ICP-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) of samples from a core previously drilled through a single sarsenic stone and a collection of sarsenic boulders from across southern Britain," the scientists said. 

The team found, after close study of the sarsens, that they came from West Forests. "The reason the builders of the monument chose this site remains a mystery, although the researchers believe the size and nature of the stones of West Woods, and the ease with which the builders could reach them, may have been factored in the decision." 

Two separate stone styles are built at Stonehenge. The sarsens are the smaller silica stones in the outer ring and middle of Stonehenge. Today, there are 52 stones on the site, but the researchers say there were originally 80.

In other news, due to the coronavirus pandemic, David Koma was unable to host a show or presentation this season. "I think it's important to remain true to yourself and to remain true to what you believe, no matter what," David Koma says from his London studio. The meaning of that in the Koma universe is glamor — but how to marry a Koma piece's sexy, slinky appeal with the slouchy, ready-for-Zoom style of COVID-19 self-isolation "work from home fits?" Koma's approach is a clever combination of coziness and camp.

Solving the long-held mystery behind the stone monoliths.

STONEHENGE: MYSTERY OF MIGHTY STONES SOLVED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, David Koma was unable to host a show or presentation this season.

"I think it's important to remain true to yourself and to remain true to what you believe, no matter what," David Koma says from his London studio. The meaning of that in the Koma universe is glamor — but how to marry a Koma piece's sexy, slinky appeal with the slouchy, ready-for-Zoom style of COVID-19 self-isolation "work from home fits?" Koma's approach is a clever combination of coziness and camp. 

Here the stretch corsets from his Fall 2020 show reappear. They are more like loungewear than babe-wear without boning, capable of being tucked into stretch patent leather bike shorts or a knit miniskirt in bright bubblegum pink. Long crystal mesh dresses are paired with knitwear or slouchy blazers, and even a neon-green metallic off-the-shoulder dress has a four-way stretch, making it the kind of Zoom party-to-couch-potato item a Koma vamp may be looking for during her homestay. Destined to arrive this fall and winter in stories, these clothes also have plenty of potential for going-out. Koma's women will cheerfully walk back into it in crystals, neons, and body-con dresses as the world open up. Also don't think of it as a return to normal — by fusing a more streamlined silhouette with new elements of comfort and stressing it, Koma shows he can adapt to a changing environment.

Immediately after graduation David Koma launched his eponymous ready-to-wear brand, and has been a London Fashion Week participant ever since. The brand has received numerous awards throughout the years including Fashion Forward in 2013, NEWGEN sponsorship in 2010, and Vauxhall Fashion Scout in 2009. David Koma has been shortlisted to the British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2018 and 2019. Koma held the position of creative director at Mugler from December 2013 till December 2017.

In these extenuating circumstances, writing about this collection via photos and remote interviews.

While communicating a message, a balance has to be achieved between the visual and the verbal aspects in design. Not all viewers will perceive the same associations in a given typeface; the designer must carefully evaluate his or her typeface selection in the context of the audience for a particular piece so the typeface used iscongruous with the subject matter. Many typefaces also conjure associations with cultural motifs because of their common use in advertising or other pop-culture venues for specific kinds of subject matter: gothic blacklisters or texture faces, for example, commonly evoke horror or fantasy because they are tied to certain historical time periods and because they have been used widely in posters and advertising for movies and books in this genre. One of the designer’s most important tasks is to give information an order that allows the viewer to navigate it.

Fashion design is the matter of applying design and aesthetics to clothing and accessories, or natural beauty. Cultural and social latitudes affect fashion design, and have varied over time and space. Fashion designers work in the design of garments and accessories such as bracelets and necklaces in a variety of ways. 

Fashion designers seek to produce clothes that are both practical and esthetically pleasing. They consider who is going to wear a garment and the conditions it would be worn in. They have a wide variety of fabrics and variations to work with and a wide range of colors and styles to choose from. 

Some apparel, as in the case of haute couture, is made especially for one woman. Today, much of the clothing is designed for the mass market, especially the casual and everyday wear that is called ready-to-wear. Several fashion brands, such as Alexander Wang, Mugler, Yohji Yamamoto, Courreges, Dion Lee, David Koma, produce both.

Fashion designers seek to produce clothes that are both practical and esthetically pleasing. They consider who is going to wear a garment and the conditions it would be worn in.

HOW TO FIND BALANCE BETWEEN PRACTICAL AND ESTHETICALLY PLEASING IN FASHION

You've left Mugler about two years ago. Have you accomplished everything you wanted while working for the brand?

At the time of commencing working for them, there was almost no brand at all: no concept, no team, no customers. My friends said: “How lucky you are to work for such a large and famous company!” However, they could not see and did not know the real state of the brand. I am proud that I managed to revive Mugler: now there is an amazing studio, excellent employees and talented designers. And I’m not at all upset that everything has passed to the new art director. Today, I still have great respect for the brand.

Have David Koma clients intersected with the clients of the Mugler fashion house?

Sometimes yes. Although, I tried to make completely different clothes for Mugler - more austere and masculine.

Was it important for you to not only to be a designer, but also the brand face?

Unfortunately or fortunately, this is a must. If you work as the creative director of the brand, you should go to presentations, store launches, and gala dinners. This is part of the game.

Leaving Mugler, you planned to focus on your own brand. What has changed over two years?

In fact, after having left Mugler, I almost immediately began to get engaged into another project, in addition to David Koma. I can not reveal all the secrets yet, but I’d say that I carry on working for two cities, just now I spend more time on the road, between London and Los Angeles. When I lived in St. Petersburg, I accustomed myself to the fact that the path from home to work should be one cigarette long. And now - almost for the first time - I violated my own rule of life. Accordingly, the changes in David Koma will take more time than it was announced: they will become more noticeable in six to eight months, stay tuned!

In fact, after having left Mugler, I almost immediately began to get engaged into another project, in addition to David Koma.

INSIDER INFO: DAVID KOMA ON LEAVING MUGLER

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