Insider eyes have been watching the Welsh designer Paolo Carzana ever since he graduated from Westminster University in 2018 with a revelation scribbled in a sketchbook: “Imagine if we could be the ones to change it all.” His plaintive designs – crafted from his small studio at the Sarabande Foundation, where he hand dyes upcycled fabrics with spices, wild plants and therapeutic oils – are dressings to bind a wound, delicate and lyrical and often produced on less than a dime.
It’s spirit raising, then, to see this designer’s work being platformed on the backs of some of the world’s most famous women. Earlier this month, Law Roach styled Zendaya in one of Carzana’s spring/summer 2024 ensembles, and just last night, Michaela Coel was photographed in a custom, hand-whorled gown while hosting Net a Porter’s Incredible Women Dinner at the V&A. She looked like one of the museum’s Bernini sculptures had been bewitched with life. The other celebrities in attendance – Gillian Anderson, Lisa Eldridge and Kate Winslet – wore tailoring.
It is almost impossible not to be struck with emotion when sitting at one of Carzana’s presentations, where his cast amble hand in hand, enveloped in wispy layers of ecru, pale pink and chartreuse. At times, his organza tailoring and antique chiffon shirts look as though they might have grown out of the nervous system to form a protective film around his models, their gossamer sleeves trailing behind them like shackles. There is a reason why the fashion critic Sarah Mower has described this designer as “a wonder to the fashion world”, likening his outlier talent to Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. It will take a couple more big names to provide Carzana with the on-ramp he so deserves.
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