Renowned women’s wear and accessories designer, Mary Katrantzou is partnering with Victoria’s Secret to unveil a capsule collection at the upcoming lingerie retailer’s 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The Katrantzou collaboration is the second high fashion capsule for Victoria’s Secret, after last year’s partnership with Balmain on a range of lingerie.
Speaking about her yet-to-be debut collection, Mary told Vogue, “My work is about perception and perspective and filtering beauty through design to allow women to stand out. I wanted to turn that on its head and look at the ‘foundation’ that we wear as women, underneath the clothes I usually design in my collections. Underwear is the first protective layer that has the ability to reinforce a woman’s confidence.”
She added that aside staying true to her brand, which features more of color and pattern they made it a point to keep the Victoria’s Secret girl central in the design process. “I wanted the collection to be colorful and uplifting, bold and strong. It’s designed to empower women to have fun with their undergarments and feel free to explore pattern and color as a second skin,” she said. “The pieces can be worn as undergarments or as actual clothing, so all the fabrications have dual purpose. I wanted to stay true to our brand heritage, so pattern and color are integral to the collection, but we always kept the Victoria’s Secret girl central to the design process. There’s a nod to silhouettes that we’ve developed in past collections, but there are also new silhouettes that we designed with VS in mind.”
Katrantzou worked closely with the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show’s longtime creative director, Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, and executive producer, Monica Mitro, as well as the Victoria’s Secret design team, to get the prints and fit just right. The Angels were also consulted in the collection making process as Katrantzou shared “It was invaluable to fit on the VS girls and get their feedback on what they love to wear.”
