David Koma SS22 | Digital Show

Swimwear is subject to gaze. Constructed like a second skin on the body, its multi-faceted iterations span the poles of performance and sensuality, and every area in between. For Spring-Summer 2022, David Koma’s study of swimming costumes takes its point of departure in the athleticism core to that duality. Captured in film at the London Aquatics Centre designed by Zaha Hadid, the collection enters into a dialogue between the architect’s characteristic lines and the structural properties of the aquatic wardrobe. In a contemporary investigation of classic swimwear, David Koma looks to the legendary champion Annette Kellerman, who popularised synchronised swimming at the turn of the century, and was one of the first women to wear a one-piece swimsuit. Played by Esther Williams in Million Dollar Mermaid from 1952 – herself a competitive swimmer turned actress and pin-up in the Golden Age of Hollywood – Kellerman’s legacy was immortalised through the choreography of Busby Berkeley in an inimitable meeting betwee