Simkhai S/S 2025 Runway Show
The Simkhai SS25 collection was unveiled today at Edge at Hudson Yards, to a front row of guests including Taraji P. Henson, Suni Lee, Alexandra Raisman and Charlotte Lawrence. The show featured Amber Valetta and Caroline Trentini, and debuted Simkhai men’s looks on the runway for the first time.
SIMKHAI, at home in Laurel Canyon, was organizing a closet and found a silk flower petal that had fallen to the floor from a shelf above. Unlike fabrics he’d known, SIMKHAI couldn’t place which garment the petal had fallen from. SIMKHAI then found an envelope that was hidden inside a photo album. Standing in the hushed confines of his home, surrounded by old pictures, his own personal garments, and old items that his children had grown out of, SIMKHAI still held the silk petal in his hand. He remembered where the petal had fallen from and an influence and inspiration washed over. For this Spring and Summer 2025 collection, this silk petal will grow and evolve throughout, from a singular dimension into an almost living three-dimensional floral appliqué. This petal and floral detail helps add elements of craft like hand-crocheted metallics, along with new customizations while also helping fold a cherished past into the present.
For Spring Summer 2025, the color palette tells a story with a gradual ombré of tones. Hushed earth tones emerge and gradually turn into a beating vibrant series of colors. There are new silhouettes and shapes using fin pleating techniques in dresses, suiting, and knitwear. Every piece in the collection is imbued with a sense of modernity while echoing the spirit of spring and summer. Sharp lasercut leather defines the structure of A-line silhouettes that embrace the body while being balanced out with strong lines. Used in most categories SIMKHAI adds noticeable breaks in many garments to tell a story of complexity. These sharp shifts in form, function, and fabrications are seen with the use of slithers of black bands in different widths. These palette cleanses are used to punctuate garments, infusing unexpected bands of black to inject edge into romanticism and combine sport minimalism with gentle handwork.
As the collection unfolds, there are sharp and alluring silhouettes contrasted with a sense of sculpted sensuality. For Spring, SIMKHAI for the first time designed garments mirroring the exact silhouette but executed them using entirely contrasting fabrications. These dresses intentionally share a silky lustrous surface but span spectrums between laser cut leathers to the plain weave of cotton poplin. The animated floral and petal motif techniques are finalized not only with the use of machine embroidery but also with the use of handwork on the most delicate fabrics. As the fin pleating is mirrored in knitwear for Spring Summer 2025 so is the floral detailing as it begins to morph, transforming from a subtle print into a bold three-dimensional pop art of petals. Using guipure lace embroidery along with sheer underlay, the original silk petal detail continues to resurface as an experiment in the interplay of modernity and nostalgia.
The tear-shaped silk petal had fallen from a family album and was once attached to the dress worn by his mom on her wedding day, September 7, 1972. A cascade of silk tulle embroidery with tiny silk florals, the fabric created by SIMKHAI’s late grandfather in their family owned lace mill in Iran. For SIMKHAI, his mom’s wedding dress has always been a staple of family lore, often recounted in the same breath as tales of growing up and falling in love. SIMKHAI hopes to celebrate it and with her approval, breathe new life into that memory for her and his family, allowing the essence of her dress and time to bloom anew.
