Ece Ege was ready to take flight this season, with balloon hems on skirts and sleeves adding volume to her signature silhouettes.

It was a well-placed touch of nostalgia that recalled her graduation project from ESMOD fashion school in Paris more than two decades ago. Sure, the skirts were shorter then, but the silhouette felt ripe for a more mature take on safari and tuxedo shirtdresses with the hem hitting the knee.

Her focus on deceptively simple shapes for a voluminous silhouette that doesn’t add volume is rooted in anatomical precision.

“You shouldn’t look like a potato,” she said, explaining her obsession with tailoring for women’s bodies, which, it might behoove some designers to remember, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. “There’s so much mathematics and engineering to the structure. I love that challenge.”

Many garments, including demure day dresses and cropped jackets, were constructed out of Mikado, with a slight stiffness that kept them from sliding into girlish territory.

Ege mixes her practicality with whimsy, such as a strapless dress encrusted with a spray of rhinestone flowers, or delicate diamond shapes rendered in pearls on a bodice for added texture, as well as leather strap closure details on a mid-calf, wide-legged culotte.

Polka dots popped on skirts and pussy-bow blouses, in a monochrome palette and irreverently inverted when paired. There was romanticism in the details, such as a small envelope-fold pocket, which was a nod to love letters of yesteryear, or lacy-slip skirts paired with oversize men’s jackets.

Despite the couture-level construction, the collection remained rooted in real lives. These are clothes made for vibrant women, busy with careers and kids, but wanting everyday elegance, Ege said.

“You don’t wait for a special occasion,” she said. “I love being a little bit overdressed for things.”