Christopher Esber has built a business on uber-sexy jersey dresses that play up negative space—his “piercing” numbers have spawned many a pale imitator. But this season the designer said he wanted to lean into a more masculine side of femininity.

“I like the idea of strength dressing,” he said during a visit to his Paris showroom. “I wanted to play with the idea of disrupting utility and the way we see things, not just from a visual standpoint, but also how we piece things together. There’s a real dichotomy with what I naturally do.”

The starting point came straight from home, in the form of a hunting jacket worn by Esber’s father in the ‘80s and passed down to his elder brother. Upon closer inspection, that apparently simple piece turned out to be intricately constructed from more than 80 separate panels. Esber’s response was to take it apart and reassemble it with fancier, lighter fabrics, like a patchwork of French lace in pink, orange and fuchsia, structured by white herringbone taping. Another came in lush suede with quilted shoulder pieces, a sly nod to his upcoming men’s line, debuting in January. “The utility is still legible, it’s just that it no longer applies,” he offered.

That throughline—interrupting functionality with a whimsical print or punctuating practical pieces like a pencil skirt with broad sweeps of transparency—informed a collection studded, literally and figuratively, with some daring ideas.

A burgundy harem pant made from a millefeuille of jersey and georgette sported a slit from calf to waist that, in motion, flashed the full length of leg. Tailored trousers, slashed from the inseam, became a skirt with godet inserts, the legs now transformed into deep pockets. Capris with a “wallpaper” fringe overlay and billowy harem pants challenged conventional ideas about what a skirt might be. A shredded tassel vest was visually striking but only marginally denser than fishnet: it looked editorial-ready, but unrepentantly impractical.

The case for real-world dressing was more reserved but strong. Trousers were consistent winners, from easy barrel shapes to sharp two-tone flares, fluid black cargos, and low-slung dressy jeans patched together from denim and striped overall cloth. Paired with a roomy utility jacket, a body-con cut-out sheath in sage-colored tropical wool became office-appropriate. A bustier top lashed to trousers with sailboat rigging paired structure with flashes of skin. A 1980s-leaning bomber with a removable zip panel looked like it could move easily from office to evening. An uncharacteristic detour into florals yielded a hot passionflower print worked multiple ways and a faintly retro botanical motif.

Back in Esber’s signature register, a draped gown in white jersey was spliced with flesh-tone tulle. Another, in black, was his answer to the question: what if a gown were as easy as a backpack? Turns out, it can be.