AZZOPARDI, the fashion studio founded by couturier Luke Azzopardi, has made its debut in Paris Couture Week with Salomé – an off-calendar collection that forms part of its Fall/Winter 2026-2027 Artisinal Collection that examinines one of history’s most enduring female figures.
“Neither confined to history nor fantasy, Salomé exists as a cultural construct that has been continually rewritten across literature, painting, opera, film, and fashion,” the studio notes.
“She becomes a lens through which to explore couture, craft, cultural memory and cross-border dialogue.”
Through Salomé, AZZOPARDI makes couture and design a tangible act of research. Corsetry, draping and meticulous tailoring shaped an evocative collection of garments that function as vessels of memory, constructed through extensive artisanal handwork and textile manipulation.
“Central to the collection is the language of veiling. Reimagined as fragmented, dismantled and reconstructed forms, veils are transformed into sculptural garments which blur boundaries of concealment,” says AZZOPARDI.
The couturier’s cultural references extend beyond that of Salomé alone, bridging the myth of the Seven Veils, which symbolises the shedding of layers or veils to reveal a hidden truth, with that of the Maltese għonnella.
This unexpected dialogue between two distinct cultural narratives examines how dress mediates identity, ritual and female representation across geographies and eras.
Luke Azzopardi, who founded his eponymous studio in 2019, continues his exploration of couture and hand-craft as multidisciplinary practices at the intersection of cultural research and costume history, informed by his academic background in the latter.
“The collection reconsiders historical archetypes through contemporary mindsets,” the studio shares, “demonstrating how artisanal fashion can become a medium for storytelling, memory, diplomacy and cultural exchange.”
Photography: Jason Lloyd Evans
