Arthur Arbesser: Color, Cut and Instagram

In true 2016 style,Arthur Arbesserascended to his new role asIcebergcreative director as a result of an Instagram exchange with parent company Gilmar CEO and artistic director Paolo Gerani. Gerani recounted the like-comment-switch-to-IRL process toWWDback in the fall of 2015 as Arbesser got set to show his first collection at Milan Fashion Week. “I put a ‘like’ on his Instagram account when he was named among the finalists of the LVMH Prize and he replied with a comment,” Gerani told the publication. “I was already following him, I was intrigued by his sensibility in the use of bold colors, which he combines with a very graphic approach and clean lines.”

Now, the designer has two collections under his belt with Fall 2016 fresh off the runway to a solid stable of critical reviews. What seems to set Arbesser apart from many others is that, while he gets to enjoy the catchy title of being the next Armani, he’s actually forging a singular aesthetic all his own. Arbesser noted that much of the reason he signed on with Iceberg was because of an admiration for Gilmar’s attention and commitment to technological advances, while maintaining the tradition of its family-run status. In kind, the designer, who falls in the very general “minimalist” camp of fashion, can let shine the sheer simplicity and tranquility of non-noisy silhouettes, under whose surfaces undoubtedly lies highly skilled and innovative methods of construction and craftsmanship.

The marriage of fresh talent and a financial foundation with the smarts to let him have creative control resulted in a sharp and l…

The Vienna native and Central St. Martins graduate cites the architecture of his hometown, and the London art scene during his educational years as primary influences on a career whose trajectory has taken him from major fashion house to eponymous line and at this most recent stint with Iceberg. We’ll be watching to see what comes next.