At the same time that other designers have adapted the physicality that has characterized Antonio Tarantini’s work for ATXV (lots of pulling and tying), so the Italian designer has refined his technique for spring. He still draped directly on the form, but feeling especially liberated, focused on suspended strips of fabric (the edges all finished by hand) that fell open to reveal materials of different textures or colors. “When I work with my hands; in that moment I feel completely, completely free. This season I wanted to give life to my drapes to be more three-dimensional,” said Tarantini on a call. To that end, elastic replaced belts.

As always, the designer found ingenious ways to reveal swaths of skins in ways that felt classical as well as modern, and which appeal to pop stars like Rosé and Charli XCX. Some of the pieces could be worn in more than one way. Tarantini also took on one of the foundational pieces of the wardrobe, the T-shirt. ATXV’s in the finest silk jersey, and the designer, who has been spending time on TikTok, was thinking of these simple garments as a transformative filter. Yet in the end, the story of ATXV isn’t about concealing but a love affair with the body. “I really like to create clothes that don’t speak for you; clothes have to be alive,” Tarantini said. “I don’t like clothes as armor; for me, clothing is freedom, a garment is an emotion, and in my case, a form of liberation.”