What A.W.A.K.E. Mode is known for
The name is an acronym — All Wonderful Adventures Kindle Enthusiasm — and the label is what happened when one of fashion's best-trained eyes moved from styling pages to cutting cloth.
<p>The name is an acronym — All Wonderful Adventures Kindle Enthusiasm — and the label is what happened when one of fashion's best-trained eyes moved from styling pages to cutting cloth. Natalia Alaverdian, formerly fashion director of Harper's Bazaar Russia, founded A.W.A.K.E. Mode in London in November 2012 after a career spent composing other designers' clothes into images. She knew exactly what a photograph wanted; she started building it directly.</p><p>The house signature is the familiar garment turned one notch past familiar: shirting with displaced collars, tailoring with origami folds, dresses whose pleats behave like architecture. Collections lean on precise cross-references — Japanese art and cinema above all — and the pieces are produced deliberately in small runs, closer to art objects with armholes than to seasonal merchandise.</p><p>A.W.A.K.E. Mode now shows on the Paris calendar, where its wit reads clearly against the city's polish: sculptural but wearable, conceptual but sized for daily life. It is a stylist's revenge on minimalism — proof that clothes can carry a narrative and still get you through a Tuesday.</p>
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Architectural pleats and sculptural cocktail tailoring.
More in Paris
- Balenciaga — Paris
- Bourrienne Paris X — Paris
- Cartier — Paris
- Céline — Paris
- Chanel — Paris
- Charvet — Paris
- Creed — Paris
- Dior — Paris
Where next
- Rochas — Paris
- Maison Rabih Kayrouz — Paris
- Elie Saab — Paris
Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement