Christa bösch and cosima gadient’s progressive berlin-based label ottolinger wants to fill you with confidence with its resort 2023 collection. For its very first pre-collection, ottolinger presents a co-ed presentation of men’s and womenswear staples that are infiltrated with the brand’s subversive vision, making everything not quite what it seems.

Messaging around the collection is centered on superlative metaphors and affirmations, gearing you up for a collection that makes you feel like the final boss at fashion week. “you are the motorcycle.”  “you are the energy hurtling forward.” “you are ready for whatever rains from above or creeps up from beneath.” it’s this that captures the spirit of ottolinger resort ‘23, a collection that shields you from the unknown and prepares you for whatever may come your way.

Like a suit of armor, ottolinger’s looks are not for the faint-hearted. Instead, they stand out on purpose and transcend traditions. Take the denim two-piece, which sees a tight-fitting jacket and boot-flared pants covered in a distressed, printed-on design that’s giving a canadian tuxedo thrown into the matrix.

Dresses, sticking slick to the body with avant-garde cut-outs around the collar act as a bridge between conventional and contemporary sartorial expectations, while a gray trench coat is buckled up with bdsm belts covered in metal eyelets. A gray marl blazer is cut suggestively, nipped in at the waist and constructed with knotted streams of fabric that, again, play into bondage cues.

It’s this combination of tradition meets hardcore that makes ottolinger the final word in smart-casual, intimate-yet-welcoming, daring and confident clothing: something only the brand can pull off with such ease.