Photography by Hugo Di Zazzo
Story by Editor-at-Large CAROLINA OGLIARO
In a world spinning with relentless upheaval and fractured certainties, Ashi Studio’s Fall-Winter 2025/26 collection emerges like a whispered elegy, a couture meditation on chaos, memory, and the passage of time. This season, the atelier invites us into a richly layered narrative, one that entwines the worn textures of history with a piercing contemporary gaze, crafting garments that feel less like clothes and more like living relics of a world suspended between decay and grandeur.
The genesis of this collection lies in a strikingly poetic juxtaposition: the harsh, discordant sounds of a chaotic world resonating through ancient Parisian cobblestones, against which the soft rustle of old veils, tapestries, and illustrated manuscripts is discovered in flea markets, fragments that carry whispers of elegance and forgotten refinement. From these relics, Ashi Studio reconstructs a vision of a woman who is simultaneously timeless and modern, like a marble statue come to life, her painted face stoic, her form draped in heavy, ancient fabrics that speak of weight and history.|
Ashi Studio’s silhouettes this season are a bold homage to the past century, evoking the grandeur and grit of old Paris and the wealth of ancient cultures. Yet these references are never mere nostalgia; they are reinterpreted with a deft contemporary touch that challenges tradition and reinvents craftsmanship. Familiar techniques have been set aside to welcome new materials and hybrid forms of artisanal craft, always within couture’s rigorous boundaries, signaling a studio unafraid to disrupt in order to innovate.
Conceptually, the collection unfolds through a tapestry of narratives and inspirations. Louise Bourgeois’s fabric works, those haunting mended and distressed bodies, inform a dialogue on skin, transparency, and emotional ambivalence. This sensibility permeates the garments, creating a sense of tension between vulnerability and resilience. Simultaneously, the intricate world of a cabinet of curiosities, a delicate balance between exoticism and classicism, breathes life into the collection’s textures and embellishments.
The ensemble’s multi-layered approach oscillates effortlessly between the splendor of precious materials and the evocative traces of decay. Every detail matters: the fall of a dress, the sculptural shaping of a corset, the tactile richness of clutches adorned with wood, mother-of-pearl, precious stones, feathers, metal, and lace. These elements are not ornamental but narrative; they carry fragments of history, craftsmanship, and emotion, elevating each piece to a storytelling artifact.
This is the evolving universe of Ashi Studio, a world where mystique and precision coalesce. It is a pursuit not only of refinement but of a higher form of craft, one that demands exacting standards and dares to reach beyond the surface. In an era of rapid consumption and fleeting trends, Ashi Studio stands as a beacon of timelessness, reminding us that couture can be both a refuge and a revelation.
Fall-Winter 2025/26 is a sensorial journey through time and texture, a call to embrace complexity, and a celebration of the enduring power of elegance in the face of chaos. Ashi Studio invites us to lose ourselves in this poetic dance of materials and meaning and to find, within it, a deeper understanding of the past, the present, and what couture can truly be.
