The Bevza woman may be minimal, but she ain’t no square.

For spring, Svitlana Bevza set out to prove the many possibilities that the simplest shape can have, cutting them out from necklines, constructing them in three dimensions and draping them front ways, back ways and sideways. 

Inspiration, she said, came from artist Kazimir Malevich. “They call him the father of Russian avant garde, but he was born in Kiev, the same city as I was.”

Malevich’s geometric assemblages were reinterpreted in primary colors on a pair of upcycled parachute pants, which came across as more ’80s MC Hammer than early 20th-century Cubo-futurism. In this case, Bevza should have read the quote by Antoine de-Saint-Exupèry that she printed on silk scarves more closely: “Perfection is finally attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

The pants distracted from an otherwise playful and sophisticated lineup of silhouettes mostly in black and white. The best pieces were the most straightforward, like a tabard top and wrap skirt worn with a pelvic-exposing tank. Both were cut from crepe viscose squares with zipper tracks running along the edges that looped around the body to conceal-and-reveal more or less.

Fighting with the lines of the body, Bevza seamed panels together to create cube-like cap sleeves and waists, which looked unnatural. They felt more sensual dangling like tissues from asymmetrical gowns, but ultimately, these fell flat on the mannequins at her presentation. 

Bevza said it best, picking up a limp piece of fabric: “A human shapes the square because this has no point without the woman wearing it. She makes it beautiful.”