David Koma

For a sculptural, body-contouring occasion dress, David Koma is one of the names that defines the category. The brand is celebrated for couture-like finishes — from gravity-defying hand embroidery to exactingly cut silhouettes — and for dresses engineered to hug the body like architecture. If you want a true statement piece for an event rather than an everyday buy, that craftsmanship is exactly what you're paying for.

Because the construction is the whole point. David Koma is known for precise, sculptural cuts and couture-like finishing, including elaborate hand embroidery and sharp, body-contouring tailoring that takes skill and time to execute. These are statement evening pieces built around the feminine form, so the price reflects the engineering behind that signature silhouette rather than a logo.

David Koma is the working name of Davit Komakhidze, a Georgian fashion designer based in London. Born in Tbilisi, he moved to Saint Petersburg at the age of nine, relocated to London in 2003, and has lived in Shoreditch for over a decade. He launched his eponymous luxury womenswear brand in 2009 and has shown at London Fashion Week ever since.

The ultra body-contouring silhouette. The house has become synonymous with sculptural statement dresses inspired by the feminine form, often praised for their couture-like finishes — whether opulent hand embroidery or sleek, precisely cut lines. Alongside that signature bodycon, the label now offers tailored daywear in denim and leather, outerwear, red-carpet gowns, and sharply cut jumpsuits.

At one of fashion's most famous schools. After studying Fine Art in Saint Petersburg, Koma moved to London in 2003 to attend Central Saint Martins, completing a BA in Fashion Design and then graduating with an MA in Fashion in April 2009 — at which point he won a Harrods Design Award at Graduate Fashion Week. He launched his own label straight after graduation.

An A-list roster turns to him for the red carpet. The designer has dressed Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez, Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Blackpink, and Adele, among others. That demand for his sculptural eveningwear is a big part of why the brand became an international name.

Beyoncé was the very first celebrity to back him. She wore a David Koma dress in 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Awards — a piece from his Central Saint Martins graduate collection — and has returned to the label many times since, including for her Be Alive performance at the 2022 Academy Awards and during the Renaissance World Tour. It's one of fashion's great early-support stories.

No — that chapter has closed. Koma served as creative director of Mugler from 2013 until December 2017, splitting his time between London and Paris while continuing to run his own label. The Mugler years sharpened the bold, body-conscious vocabulary that still defines his eponymous brand today.

He has a major new role. On 31 July 2024, Koma was appointed creative director of Blumarine, the Italian house, while continuing to run his eponymous London brand. So a David Koma piece today comes from a designer steering two distinct fashion houses at once.

The female form, and the women who broke barriers. His collections are inspired by the feminine form, and his muses are often historically iconic women in male-dominated fields — from marine biologist Dr Sylvia Earle to the pioneering motorsport women Adeline and Augusta Van Buren and 1920s footballer Lily Parr. That thread of strong, accomplished women runs beneath the brand's glamour.