Mira Mikati Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear

Like so many designers, Mira Mikati has had to pivot in ways she never dreamed possible: Covid times forced her to put her brand-new London boutique on hold and get up to speed online. But if it put the breaks on travel, it didn’t stop her from putting together a book entitled Colorful World, a collection of personal photos chronicling 50 favorite travel destinations, from Paris and Provence to Argentina, Tokyo, Sicily, and South Africa. Winnowing the list to just 50 was hard, she said, so by the time it’s published by Rizzoli next season, she’ll probably be onto volume two.

Mikati’s an optimist at heart, she dreams big, and she’s got energy to burn. At the moment, the artist Javier Calleja has carte blanche to draw on the walls in her London boutique in time for Frieze (he also lent his little characters’ pie-eyes to some of Mikati’s knits). Come spring, the artist Gabriela Noelle—whom Mikati met in Miami—will layer in whimsical flowers, reprised here in prints, on lucite brooches, and as a funky little chain mail dress with acrylic flowers, handmade in a very limited edition. Another major new development for Mikati is men’s wear, a category she decided to embrace because men were already co-opting her pieces. She brought it to fruition with a little modeling help from her husband.

The designer describes her spring mood as “quite mystic” and, true to character, the clothes brim with lucky talismans like ladybugs, clovers, and references to the tarot. Little words and messages like “open your mind” and “disconnect to reconnect” crop up in hand embroidery and hand painting in a lineup that spans op art checks large and small, maxi skirts, flower sweaters that nod to skating and surfing, and an “after-pool, after-surf” grouping of terry pieces that go heavy on the psychedelia.

Living in London made Mikati realize that she had to bend to meteorological reality and incorporate some outerwear, for example a bio-cotton coat in orange and teal plaid. She upcycles wherever possible, working raincoat fabric into a skirt with a large black and white flower, or transforming scrap yarn into sweaters with trailing threads. Fully 90% of her wool is earth-friendlier, she said, and the studio is embracing denim, whether recycled or washed without dyes. Her next goal: a butterfly badge from Positive Luxury.

“I’m trying to evolve wherever possible,” the designer offered. “What we’ve all just lived through forces you to ask questions. Dreams can be unrealistic, but there’s no harm in trying things you’ve never tried before.” Some of Mikati’s flights of fancy are way out there indeed, but they’re also fun and endearing (a skateboard sheathed in knit, anyone?). It will be fun to watch how they connect.