For spring/summer 2025, MKDT (yes, that’s the name now) draws inspiration – and its bio-based materials – from the earth
While a change of name is, on its face, a big move for a brand, for Mark Kenley Domino Tan, which today debuted as MKDT, the seeds had been sewn. “We’ve had the time to find our own feet and became a brand that respects our heritage,” says Caroline Engelgaar, who took the reins as creative director two years ago following Domino Tan’s departure. “Having the name feels like someone isn’t there, in a way, because it’s a private name.” The new name fashions into a pleasing monogram, which finds itself onto easy cotton shirts.
Though this is the first MKDT collection, spring/summer 2025, which showed in a cobblestoned square, is the third of a trilogy. First there was a collection inspired by the sea, followed by the sky. Now, naturally, we have the earth. “The main inspiration has been the craftmanship of the hand,” says Engelgaar. “At the same time, it’s been about how the earth has these things that we really can control, and then things that we really cannot control.”
It sounds a bit out there, but it manifests quite practically in the garments themselves, which find their control in rigid, 1950s silhouettes – high necks and slim nipped waists. Or, as Engelgaar puts it, “Audrey Hepburn away on summer holiday” (yes, there are covetable LBDs).
Meanwhile, that unpredictable earthiness comes through first in the palette of browns and sand but also through abstract 3D flowers that seem to grow from the garments themselves. “It’s a little bit like wallpaper that came out and it’s not done in a way,” says Engelgaar.
Then there are the pieces sprung from the earth itself – showpieces made in collaboration with Danish artist Sara Martinsen, who creates one-offs from bio-based materials like palm leaves and maple trees. They’ve been fashioned into accessories that bring new meaning to sustainable fashion. “They’re these little artefacts,” says Engelgaar. “Like, this is what you should be wearing next season.”
See the full MKDT SS25 collection below:
