In his third collection for Fashion East, Michael Stewart of Standing Ground looked to the ancient past, to a time when his native Ireland was still a part of the seabed somewhere around the equator. Titling the collection Tethys, a reference to the prehistoric Tethys Sea which was an early ocean formed about 35 million years ago when most of the countries of the earth were still one large landmass, there were many oceanic references throughout – mossy greens, fossil-like patterning, even the models themselves were slicked and dewy.

Ever since founding Standing Ground in 2022, Stewart has strictly dedicated himself to the canvas of the evening gown. He is a designer who knows the importance of a sharp fold and a glamorous wrinkle. Naturally, his SS24 collection delivered that in abundance. The construction of these pieces was exquisite. It will be hard to forget the cobalt blue gown constructed from a single piece of fabric or the green crushed velvet number that genuinely made that notoriously tacky fabric look couture. Of course, the beaded accoutrements were the stars of the show. The show notes described them as “Xenomorphic coils, conjuring subliminal techno-erotics and a gothic posthumanism.” They encrusted the dresses like barnacles, or a H.R. Giger-style exoskeleton.