A sculptural, head-to-toe latex look in a single vivid pink — built by hand for KitchenAid's 2023 Color of the Year, “Hibiscus,” as part of Marta Del Rio's avant-garde capsule collection.
Designed and styled by Marta Del Rio · Built in latex by Vex · Photographed by Thom Kerr for PAPER
When KitchenAid named “Hibiscus” its 2023 Color of the Year — a vivid, matte fuchsia — designer and stylist Marta Del Rio built a capsule collection of sculptural, avant-garde looks inspired by the brand's iconic appliances. For one of those looks, she came to us to translate the vision into latex.
It was the perfect problem for the material: a single, saturated Hibiscus pink, rendered across an entire look — a structured gown, a pleated peplum, sculptural petal sleeves, latex cut into lace, opera gloves, and a run of custom heels. All built by hand, all in the same color, all made to photograph as couture.
Every custom starts on paper and in calico. The silhouette was sketched, then patterned in muslin on the form so the proportions were locked before a single panel of latex was cut.
The gown was built in that saturated Hibiscus pink — a shawl-lapel bodice, cargo-style pockets, and a full circle skirt with a darker two-tier hem for depth and movement.
One of the most painstaking details: latex hand-cut into a lace pattern, so the panels read as delicate lacework from a distance while staying unmistakably latex up close.
The look's most sculptural pieces were the petal sleeves — layered, shaped latex cones airbrushed with darker tones for dimension — worn over long Hibiscus opera gloves.
A second piece in the same Hibiscus latex: a sharply pleated peplum skirt with cross-back straps.
The look was finished with custom latex-covered heels in the same Hibiscus — made by the pair to complete every silhouette in the collection.
A whole look in a single Hibiscus pink only works if every surface does something different — sculpted, pleated, cut into lace, airbrushed, and glossed.
That is where latex earns its place in a campaign like this: it holds a saturated color and a sculptural shape at the same time, and photographs as couture under studio lights.
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