The Halpern woman is ready to let her hair down for AW22.
Michael Halpern has brought the bright fire back into the modern woman’s eyes post-pandemic, ready to embrace her own definition of self-confidence. As someone who has harnessed immense amounts of accolades throughout his career, from becoming a worldwide sensation in his first season to creating Atelier Versace’s couture collections alongside Donatella, Michael has never lost his passion for nurturing his community.
Meeting us 48 hours before his first physical show post-pandemic, Halpern is incredibly composed, and makes everyone feel incredibly welcome with a flair of excitement, creating a family-like atmosphere amongst his team. “After creating our fashion films, celebrating the brave NHS workers at the frontline during the pandemic, I made a point to myself to always link it back to the community.” This is why he partnered with the Brixton Community Centre to help fund and install the power and lighting systems, which will then live on to host more activities and events for the community.
“My view of fashion in London is that whatever you do, you have to be absolutely obsessed with it.” His intrinsic joy about fashion really translates into the collections, as Halpern has solidified himself to create meticulously bespoke, flaring garments that mirror each type of woman to perfection. Inspired by dance and the rhythm behind the beats of the ‘80s and ‘90s, the soundtrack within fittings is as important as the fabrics.
As seen in his show on Saturday evening, the collection opened with a tigeresque cream see-through chiffon that flowed effervescently with the model’s walk, later morphing into powerful green tweed and chartreuse silk that protruded new wave elegance – partially classy, partially punk. A unique stamp to the brand and Michael’s vision are always the fabrics and the tremendous quality of soul he puts into each piece, as he explains to Perfect that a big chunk of his business is custom-based and crafted with meticulous attention to his customers, and particularly the fun, fabulous and feisty ladies of the US south.
The collection made one thing clear – Michael Halpern is a caring, creative psychologist with a meticulous attention to detail, carefully analysing and studying its subjects, and portraying an honest depiction of the woman, being in charge of her own universe, ready to let the light in again and embrace life with more passion than ever before.
