FLORENTINA LEITNER SPRING SUMMER 2023

The Antwerp-based Austrian designer offered a lineup as fun, flirty and refreshing as a morning walk in the countryside.

Florals for spring? Sure, especially if your florals are more psychedelic trip than breathy romance, and that’s exactly what Florentina Leitner went for in her Parisian presentation.The Antwerp-based Austrian designer showed a spring collection inspired by “deers, daisies and daydreaming” among haystacks piled into the basement of the 3537 cultural center, as a way to bring a bit of the bucolic Austrian region where she grew up. 

Leitner put a floral spin on the clingy bodysuits that caught the eye of her famous following, here available in a variety of lengths, and babydoll dresses decorated with a deer print, a collaboration with Dutch graphic artist Rop van Mierlo, or sketched daisies. There were retro-inflected swim looks, floral caps and all, connecting the season’s narrative further to the Lake Neusiedl region where the season’s film was shot.

Elsewhere, a floor-length dress, made of giant lace flowers that left skin and skivvies in plain sight hit the sweet spot for tongue-in-cheek sexiness and showed Leitner’s knack for making handcrafted elements look coolly relevant.

The result was fun, flirty and felt as refreshing as a morning walk in the countryside.