The recent New York Fashion Week show presented by Almée Couture stood out as one of the most breathtaking displays of craftsmanship and cultural expression. These gowns differed immensely from the ever evolving “quiet elegance” trend being seen in modern high fashion. The centerpiece of this array was a 61 pound beaded dress that was featured for its magnificent sparkling frame. The rest of the show was filled with pieces just as decadent and loud. This persistent quality of regality in Almée Couture’s designs is what has ushered them into the spotlight.
Almée Couture was founded by Taing Sokhang who is also the designer “Hang.” Almée describes themselves as a Cambodian couture house in which they state their mission is “to merge Cambodian heritage with modern artistry” while creating pieces that celebrate “craftsmanship, cultural storytelling, and innovation on the global stage.” This brand was established in 2024, and the amount of clout they have earned on the international stage compared to their short lifetime has accomplished their goal of spreading their designs.
Even though this brand is dripping in elegance and grandeur, as displayed by the pictures of designs on their website, they do not follow the typical high fashion exclusive attitude. On the profile for Almée, they introduce their brand as “couture crafted with love” to “make every woman feel cherished.” Almée has reached the hearts of many through their social media platforms. This outreach hasn’t diminished the richness of their work but has prompted many different people to look upon the traditional and regal Cambodian inspired designs.
The piece that demands the most attention is the 61 pound centerpiece of the show entitled ‘Time Voyage’ (see the featured image photo at the top of this article). The hand beaded dress took 10 weeks to make and the meticulousness shows, as this dress is more an artwork than a piece of clothing. The intricate scene it paints makes you scan every inch of the dress separately, as each bead accounts for a small detail one would only think is possible to induce in a painting.
Starting off at the most basic description, this dress is a whirlwind of colors with an overwhelming amount of midnight blue and crystals to cover the entire surface. Crystals are the most abundant ingredient in this dress, yet other mediums such as silk tulle, organza, gemstones, and sequins were also used. Clock faces, constellations, an image of a train, and swirling bands of color collide across the skirt in order to accomplish “evoking the movement of galaxies and the poetry of time’s passage,” as stated on the website.
The top of the dress is sculpted to appear in the shape of a half moon with swirls of sky, midnight, and medium blue fabric making almost cloud-like structures under the moon supporting the bust. Within this half moon structure lies a city made of tiny blue and yellow buildings with a scene that reminds one of the famous Van Gogh painting ‘Starry Night.’ This city is also beaded yet made out of a starchy fabric, making it sturdy and capable of standing without falling upon the figure of the model.
Underneath that display, from the waistline to the bottom of the dress, the swirling array of colors begins. The dress forms a spiral with the colors: going from indigo, to purple, to a bright fiery orange at the center of the gown, to green, then finally back to indigo and purple at the hemline. Each ring of the spiral is beaded with different color crystals. There are also images attached to the gown’s body that act as symbols to the dress’s intention of conveying time passing.
Almée describes these images as “cosmic spirals of clocks and constellations, leading to a golden train motif that symbolizes an eternal journey.”
The golden train is the most impressive work on the dress, as it almost appears to be three dimensional on the dress itself, as the image is manipulated to have the train warping around the dress. The train itself is made with all the same materials as the rest of the dress, yet the golden gemstones here are the epitome of the complex hand beading that it took to make this piece.
Each piece in this collection could warrant its own article as an ode to each one’s individuality. However, to showcase what makes Almée’s designs especially fascinating, one cannot ignore their perfection of creating unique structures out of no more than fabrics and beads. This make their dresses very structured but also beautiful in an unconventional way. A specific piece from their recent New York Fashion Week show that captured this element of their design was their piece entitled ‘Celestial Empress.’
The Celestial Empress’s bodice forms a radiant circular structure across the chest that appears to be an engineered disk. This is akin to the half moon breastplate that was made for the centerpiece dress, as both have structures that seem impossible to create with fabric alone. The structures don’t fall to gravity. Instead, they stand tall against the models’ figures. In accordance with the centerpiece as well, the only materials used to create this dress were silk, tulle, crystals, sequins, and gemstones.
Almée describes this part of the dress as “a radiant circular motif reminiscent of celestial orbits, shimmering with midnight crystals and golden accents.”
Down further on the dress the beads blend into a simpler skirt that isn’t lacking, but instead lets the attention be on the top portion of the gown. This adds elegance to the piece along with the tulle scarf that trails the model in the image. Almée continues in the description by stating that “Cascading beadwork flows into a sleek black skirt, interwoven with silver streaks and sapphire tones, evoking the brilliance of galaxies in motion. A soft trailing drape of sheer tulle completes the look, symbolizing ethereal grace and eternal power.”
This NYFW debut was called ‘Spirit of the Forgotten’ which matches the tone and colors of the past two pieces just covered. ‘Celestial Empress’ and ‘Time Voyage’ were motifs about time passing and an empress that symbolized eternal power and the universe as a whole. They also embodied colors of blacks and dark blues with the occasional fiery orange or yellow that also had an emotionally serious tone. However, this collection also went to the other extreme within its theme. Their very first look, a dress called ‘Sacred Cranes,’ is the opposite of what we have looked at so far. This dress was included in the theme “Spirit of the Forgotten” as it is a motif for rebirth and eternity, as explained by Almée.
This dress is an off the shoulder and form fitting gown, which is more traditional then the other two more structural pieces. ‘Sacred Cranes’ still employs Almée’s signature sculpted look with details that are sturdy and artistic — with the swans crafted to show each individual feather on their wings, with nothing again but silk tulle, organza, crystals, gemstones, sequins. However, to contrast the engineered look of the other two gowns, this piece is more traditional in the skirt.
The lake blue color of the skirt is adorned with gold flower accents that are sewn on, in order to replicate the natural plants in a lake. The dress is a walking ecosystem of the lake, with lily pads, swans, pink and gold flowers, and even a sun shaped adornment at the top of the bust.
Almée further notes that “this gown evokes the sacred flight of cranes rising toward the golden sun. The bodice is alive with sculpted wings and radiant motifs, while the cascading turquoise drape glimmers like a serene lotus pond, blossoming with hand-embroidered flowers and gilded petals.”
Overall, this dress is a stunning start to the show especially with its themes of life that compare with the later themes displayed in the collection we have reviewed. To bring it all together, all the pieces were combined in the centerpiece ‘Time Voyage’ that explained the overarching theme of time passing throughout the dresses.
The recent New York Fashion Week show presented by Almée Couture stood out as one of the most breathtaking displays of craftsmanship and cultural expression. These gowns differed immensely from the ever evolving “quiet elegance” trend being seen in modern high fashion.