Anna October Pre-Fall 2023

Anna October’s life and outlook—personally and professionally—are an object lesson in resilience. To wit, the pre-fall collection was produced in Kyiv, amid missiles and electricity shortages and occasionally sheltering in the metro system. And yet, while October was there, she made a point of taking ballet class and attending a rave in the daytime—since curfew makes nighttime impracticable—that felt “beautiful, sexy, with this will to live to the fullest” (at the end of that event, the crowd broke out in the Ukrainian anthem). On her birthday, New Year’s Eve, she dressed up and ventured out in high heels and a fancy boa. Which is also why this outing has no particular inspiration: “Its all just life happening and celebrating special moments,” the designer said during a showroom visit. If rifling through her own collection for a gown put her in mind of black tie, it also prompted her to incorporate colors—the blue-gray color of the Paris sky, the peachy hue of a Bellini savored at the Opera Garnier—gleaned from her new life in the City of Light (“for me, it’s Bellini or bust,” she offered). Once this collection was ready, the studio threw it into suitcases; one 24-hour train ride later, the designer discovered the full array back in Paris.