AADNEVIK SS27 “Persephone”: Redefining Feminine Power on the Runway

“You can tell when a designer loves women.”

The phrase has become familiar on TikTok, describing the almost instinctive feeling that a garment has been designed with a true understanding of the woman who will wear it. Yet, to design for women is one thing; to design with an apparent fascination for femininity itself is another. 

But what does it actually mean for a designer to “love women”? Is it found in celebrating the female body, in clothes that make sensuality feel like power? Perhaps it lies in recognising that women need not be less feminine to appear powerful.  These questions linger over AADNEVIK’s SS27 collection, Persephone: Between Paradise and the Underworld. Inspired by Persephone’s transformation from the innocent goddess of spring into Queen of the Underworld, the collection explores a woman becoming more formidable without abandoning the qualities that once made her appear delicate and feminine.

From Marie Antoinette to Persephone: AADNEVIK’s Evolving Muse

Persephone is an unlikely feminist icon. Her story begins with abduction and ends in a kingdom she shares with Hades, with her annual return to the surface becoming the mythological explanation for the changing seasons. Yet it is precisely this straddling of two worlds that piqued AADNEVIK’s interest. “A woman caught between innocence and darkness, fragility and power,” is how Hila and Kristian Aadnevik describe their heroine, whose transformation from young goddess to Queen of the Underworld provides the narrative spine for SS27.

This is also consistent with AADNEVIK’s longer-standing design language. The house describes its aesthetic through “powerful feminine designs,” containing elements that juxtapose strength with softness. The brand has consistently constructed its woman through nuance and contradiction. Its previous SS26 collection used Marie Antoinette as a muse, exploring extravagance alongside vulnerability and innocence. At the same time, AW26 drew inspiration from Joan of Arc, describing her as a figure embodying “fierce yet fragile” qualities.

AADNEVIK’s SS27 Journey From Spring to the Underworld

The collection begins in the language of spring. Porcelain whites, ivory, blush and botanical shades emerge through silk chiffon. Handcrafted flowers and crystal details evoke imagery of morning dew, while the silhouettes remain deliberately flowy. These opening looks have an almost untouched quality, with a romantic and unmistakably feminine air.  

As the collection progresses, the softness begins to acquire a harsher structure. Silk corsetry and braided leather appear beneath the layers of tulle. Floral embellishments grow darker, and pale colours give way to pomegranate red, midnight blue, and black. By the collection’s final act, the woman who entered the runway surrounded by flowers has become something altogether more commanding. Black lace and sculpted corsets are punctuated by deep crimson crystals and intricate beadwork, with the pomegranate, the fruit that binds Persephone to the Underworld, emerging as the collection’s defining symbol.

The Power of Being Feminine, According to AADNEVIK

Persephone’s power does not arrive when she loses her femininity. It arrives because she authors her own vision of femininity. She can be beautiful and formidable, vulnerable and authoritative, desirable and autonomous, all at the same time. This distinction is significant because so much of the language surrounding female empowerment has historically been predicated on a rejection of femininity. To be taken seriously, women must shed the qualities traditionally associated with femininity and adopt the codes of masculinity, emphasising severity over softness, or restraint over sensuality. In its vision, AADNEVIK proposes something more complicated. The corset does not have to be a symbol of constraint, the lace does not have to signify fragility, and sensuality does not have to exist in opposition to power. Instead, these qualities become tools through which power is performed on the wearer’s own terms. The result is a woman who does not need to choose between being looked at and being powerful, or between vulnerability and authority. She can occupy both positions simultaneously. 

Fashion has long treated the female body as both its canvas and its commodity. The corset can constrict, but it can also sculpt. A plunging neckline can invite the gaze, while simultaneously allowing its wearer to dictate how she wishes to be perceived. AADNEVIK’s fascination with these contradictions is hardly incidental. The house itself describes its work in terms of “powerful sensuality” and a muse who is “strong, seductive and free” while simultaneously “fragile, soft and loving.” 

AADNEVIK and the Right to Be Seen

If you can “tell when a designer loves women”, perhaps you should be able to feel that a designer understands the complexity of inhabiting a female body. From the pleasure of being seen and the discomfort of being watched to the freedom of dressing for oneself and the knowledge that others inevitably interpret clothing. AADNEVIK SS27 women were unapologetically sensual and highly constructed, while seemingly comfortable being seen. There is something liberating in that proposition; women do not have to disguise their sensuality to assert authority, nor surrender their femininity to be taken seriously. She can be visible without being diminished by visibility, allowing beauty and self-possession to occupy the same space.

Author: Shloka Vishweshwar