The models looked sightly, but also rightly, out of place as they advanced along the walkways of Brasserie Mollard, a restaurant that opened 130 years ago and retains its Belle Epoque charm. Frankly, all of us fashion people circa 2025 occupying tables that would have otherwise been filling with a lunchtime crowd made for an atypical ambiance, too. But this all seemed intentionally in the key of Kiko Kostadinov and today’s show encapsulated many of the ideas that have been percolating this season, right as Fashion Month draws to a close.

Australian-born Laura and Deanna Fanning, who design the womenswear, loosely based the collection on the bohemian life of Vali Myers, an Australian dancer and artist who moved to post-war Paris and became the muse for a 1956 photographic book, Love On The Left Bank by Ed Van Der Elsken. If the nationality overlap sparked their initial interest, the inspiration seemed to take hold through the counterbalance of thrift and glamour, and how Myers assumed a variety of non-conformist characters during a time of great cultural freedom in Paris. Here, the characters of our time signaled a kind of freedom in their reworked underpinnings—some layers of soft knits, others looser silks and nightdresses. Let it be said here that their bullet bras appeared before the Miu Miu versions a few hours later—sheer coincidence, of course.

Another theme involved eccentric interpretations of suiting: trousers spliced with shirt material, deconstructed tops with hybrid ties, and jackets embellished with drawstring waist cords, colorful trims and rope stays up high around the elbow. The sisters are also introducing their own denim that is made in Japan with a hand-painted splatter effect. Some of the stylings swung a little kooky, as when crinoline poufs appeared around the hips; but imagine beyond the runway when these coats and jackets—see the faux fur duffle-blouson hybrid of look 34—are worn different and you’ve got a distinctive piece to pair with more than boxers and bare legs.

As for those zippered boots, Kiko Kostadinov has developed a following for its accessories, and the Fanning sisters once again arrived at their own clever creations: modular boots in slouchy, printed nappa leather that unzip at certain levels, essentially becoming three shoes in one. When waist-trimming belts that appeared throughout are not being worn, the piece can be carried as a bag thanks to inner pouch pockets—a clever update on a belt bag.

In previous seasons, we were seeing the Kiko girls whose fashion sense felt avant-garde even when the elements might not have been. This collection also put forth Kiko women, particularly towards the end of the lineup. No risk of aging out of the brand, then. And no risk of the sisters growing tired, either. “We are really excited by clothes,” they said, returning to the energy they harnessed from Myers. “Here was a liberated woman… we are always inspired by the way women push what they wear.”