Few designers sculpt the female figure the way David Koma does. Indeed, he can take the willowiest of forms and give it an hourglass shape, which is one of the reasons that we at Mary Jane Denzer love him. But don’t take just our word for it.
“His bustiers and corsets are so tight and curved, they function as a second skin,” Steff Yotka noted in a vogue.com report last year on Koma’s Spring Ready-To-Wear Collection. “No wonder they’re a favorite in Hollywood,” with Beyoncé, Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner, Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lopez among those gracing the red carpet in his creations.
For his Spring Collection, Koma is on point with animal prints and natural materials, two of the season’s hottest trends. For fall, he pays homage to London, his adopted hometown, with cityscape prints, rainy-day denim and a nod to the late Princess Diana. (Think emerald jewelry and swirling skirts.)
Koma is one of several London-based designers from the Republic of Georgia who’s making a name for himself on the international scene. (Others include Lako Bukia; twins Tamara and Natasha Surguladze of the Tata Naka brand; and Demna Gvasalia, a founder of Vetements and creator director of Balenciaga.) He was born David Komakhidze in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, the oldest of three, and quickly displayed an interest in drawing and dress design. Koma studied fine art in Saint Petersburg, Russia – where his parents now live – and began taking part in design competitions as a teenager, showing his first collection at age 15.
London beckoned. Koma moved there in 2003 to attend Central Saint Martins, the prestigious college of arts and design. He received a bachelor of arts in fashion design and then a master’s with distinction, winning the Harrods Design Award at Graduate Fashion Week.
After graduating in April 2009, Koma launched his ready-to-wear label, which has garnered numerous awards over the years, including the Vauxhall Fashion Scout in 2009, NewGen sponsorship from the British Fashion Council in 2010 and Fashion Forward in 2013. From 2013 to ’17, Koma was creative director of Mugler, whose figure-flattering cocktail attire fit his aesthetic to a T.
On his own, Koma continues to reach. For Spring Ready-to-Wear, “he went so far as to make jewelry and belt buckles in the shape of zebras and rhinos,” Yotka observed, “leaving last season’s butterflies and ruffs forgotten in the past.”
His first foray into handbags is the hot, hot, hot flask purse. And dare we say that for fall, his velvet corsets have added stretch?
The better with which to shape you, my dear.