The Female Conductors Of Fashion

Kiko Kostadinov’s laura and Deanna Fanning, and creative director of her namesake label Alexa Chung, on designing with the female gaze and coming into their own

- Andrea Sim

LAURA AND DEANNA FANNING

The womenswear designers at Kiko Kostadinov, twin sisters Laura and Deanna Fanning, are building an encyclopedia of garments for women to feel comfortable and certain in, anchored by emotions

Ask any of your fashion-woke male friends and you’ll discover that Kiko Kostadinov is in the business of grails, whether or not the Bulgaria-born fashion prodigy set out to be. Kostadinov earned a Stüssy for Dover Street Market-shaped notch on his belt within the first year of his master’s degree at Central Saint Martins (CSM), and debuted a collection under his own menswear label at London Fashion Week in 2016 with a bevy of utilitarian silhouettes made distinct by flourishes in the details. In 2017, Mackintosh — the giant of waterproof outerwear, as dominating as Kleenex is for tissues — brought Kostadinov onboard as their inaugural creative director, where he currently oversees its design-led (but equally technical and functional) line, as well as the menswear collections of his label.

In 2018 and for SS’19, Kostadinov formally introduced womenswear at his brand after a trial run of an eight-look capsule that opened his FW’18 menswear collection. The full-fledged offering was orchestrated not by him, but by twin sisters and then fresh grads Laura and Deanna Fanning. “We had known Kiko for several years, and met at CSM. When he was expanding his brand, it was a natural conversation that we had to appoint us to direct and create a vision for the Kiko woman,” says the Fannings.