Once again, Di Petsa reminds us that yes, women do really run the world. Dimitra’s Holy Milk collection for SS27 was born, as its name suggests, from where all milk originates: the breast of a mother. The Greek designer has a holistic view of childbirth, seeing the process as the birth of a child as well as the rebirth of the mother—that in this beautiful gift of life, the mother is born again. Petsa finds this theme particularly poignant as she is surrounded by women around her who are being reborn as mothers. She sees her beloved brand as a child in its own right, one that she nurtures and waters each season, growing alongside it as its maternal figure.
Petsa draws inspiration from ecofeminism, noting that ‘the microcosms happening on a woman’s body reflect the macrocosms of nature.’ In a world run by men, where nature is so often described as Mother, she sees a parallel in the mistreatment of both women and the natural world. Her infamous wet-look designs are a direct reflection of this: she speaks of fluidity as being so central to the feminine experience, yet it is something we are conditioned to hide. A woman cannot be seen to cry, sweat or menstruate without it being met with disgust. Petsa poetically describes this societal conditioning as being ‘fertilised by the patriarchy.’
So, when the grand finale of her Holy Milk collection featured a very pregnant Leigh-Anne Pinnock majestically spraying breast milk across the catwalk, it was met with mixed reactions online. The designer’s response was simple: ‘if you get it, you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t.’ After all, there is nothing more natural than a mother feeding her child.
