MASHA POPOVA AW25 @ LONDON FASHION WEEK: There’s a certain intimacy in the details we’re not meant to see – half-fastened buttons, the haphazard way fabric clings and falls, traces of movement left behind. For AW25, Masha Popova explores the allure of unfiltered dressing: clothes caught mid-motion, slipping off shoulders, lived in rather than styled.
Set against the plush interiors of a grand hotel, ‘Do Not Disturb’ captures a restless energy; garments constructed casually over the shoulder, designed to create a draped-over effect, echoing unmade beds. Exaggerated coats wrapping around the body with a sense of ease, and dresses intentionally detailed with falling straps, designed to stay in place for an effortless and relaxed feeling. There’s an underlying tension between luxury and disobedience.
Popova draws inspiration from Sophie Calle’s The Hotel (1981), in which the artist worked as a chambermaid, secretly photographing the belongings left behind by guests. Lipstick on a glass, an unfolded letter, a half-packed suitcase – Calle’s project documented the way private lives are made legible through their remnants. That same idea of voyeurism and ephemeral traces runs through AW25: intentionally designed to evoke the fleeting moment where a sleeve slides from a shoulder, a soft pink shirt rumpled in motion, the suggestion of what came before or after.
Fabrications are a push-pull of structure and softness, layering crisp, manipulated textiles with draped, intimate pieces. Denim – ever central to Popova’s language – is distressed, aged, and treated, shaping structured yet slouchy silhouettes. Soft pyjama-inspired shirting is layered with deconstructed elements. Coats, cut with exaggerated proportions, take on a fluid, enveloping quality – part hotel bathrobe, part protective shell. Slips emerge in unexpected ways, telling stories of both dressing and undressing.
Slouchy boots with brogue detailing anchor the collection in a playful fusion of classicism and rebellion, while plush velvets and draped jerseys bring a richness to the undone. Continuing Popova’s signature re-imagined denim, techniques push the material beyond its limits to resemble shearling, fur and leather. Denim is overlaid with whiskers of hand-painted wax, protecting selected areas from treatments; creating a unique contrast between aged and untouched parts.
The blending of layered textures is both classic and unconventional – denim dyed in faded colours of indigo, black and ecru, colliding with bonded faux fur denim, mirror the push and pull between time worn glamour and polish. Classic archetypal fabrics; cotton shirting and metallic-toned velvets with an aged corduroy-like feel, the colour palette reflects the weathered elegance of hotel interiors and transient moments: washed blues, deep earthy tones, soft pastels, and worn-in neutrals.
Shot through the lens of photographer Sonny Round and visual artist Mila Rowyszyn, the look book and accompanying film evoke a life in motion: models stretching across furniture, slouching in doorways, limbs caught mid-movement. Clothes thrown on, slipped off, or caught in transition. A wardrobe for those who never fully unpack.
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CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN
MASHA POPOVA
STYLING
CELESTINE COONEY
COMMUNICATIONS
RAVEN
PHOTOGRAPHY
SONNY ROUND
GRAPHIC DESIGN
LOVE LJUNGQVIST
ANIMATED VIDEO
IN COLLABORATION WITH MILA ROWYSZYN, BIURO
MODEL
MILA ROWYSZYN
MAKE-UP
GRACE ELLINGTON
HAIR
TAKUYA UCHIYAMA
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
BRITISH FASHION COUNCIL, NEWGEN, THE LANGHAM, ALLA POPOVA, OLEH POPOVA, PAULINA GARZA, ANASTASIIA HALUSHKO, ANNA-MARIA SOMMA, ROLY WALMSLEY, VIKTORIIA LYTVYNOVA, AND RAVEN
