Following on from its otherworldly AW22 collection, which explored themes of fantasy through a celestial mini-film, Italian label Del Core’s SS23 collection takes its cues from the basic force of water.

Called Fathom, the brand’s SS23 offering is an exploration of “water and its depths: how color, shapes, perception change as one dives deeper”, and incorporates a dreamy choice of garments that juxtapose sharp tailoring with flowing silhouettes. There’s collarless jackets and flared pants and vests with neckerchief hems that give the rippling illusion of water, knitted bodysuits that include ribbons and slashes, and sculpted dresses that mould across the body with liquid precision.

“Liquidity is life and water is essentially the most energetic element, continually changing state, taking whatever possible form. The deeper one dives into its vastness, the more perceptions change: colors mutate fathom after fathom and life takes other silhouettes,” says Del Core.

Elsewhere, there’s towering platforms with a nail rather than the heel and oversized studs shaped as earrings and headbands – not to say a series of geometrically shaped handbags, available in each miniature and enormous sizes. “For Del Core beauty isn’t static, but the thought of empowered, daring femininity stays,” adds the brand. “Mutating and expanding in scope to deal with the dreamy in addition to the metropolitan, the urban landscape and the fantasy world, the gathering oozes strength and precision.”

Shot by Tyler Kohlhoff and starring rising star Alex Consani, the photographs are situated in a desert – “a spot without water” – yet it’s through the fluidity of silks, the first color palette of reds, yellows and greens, that the gathering, and the encircling landscape, bursts to life. “Deserts, actually, was luxuriant environments, wealthy in life and in water,” an accompanying statement explains. “Mutation is something that actually attracts the creative director Daniel Del Core: there’s vitality to it, a liveliness, even when it looks destructive. All of that is expressed flippantly, through the sheer fantastic thing about the photographs and the garments and poses they depict.”

Take a more in-depth have a look at the SS23 collection within the gallery above, and discover more on Del Core’s website.