Joe’s Whale begins during a power cut in Joe Al Daccache’s father’s fishing shop. When the lights went out, the plastic fish and lures around him began to glow. Objects he knew from long hours in the shop suddenly appeared differently. A play on the parable of Jonah’s Whale, the title recalls the feeling of being swallowed by the vast shop, surrounded by its contents as though inside the belly of a whale. Joe builds the collection around that moment, asking what darkness might reveal when it changes what we are able to see.

His father’s winter fishing clothes provide the starting point for the silhouettes. Joe uses moulage and draping to develop structured, comfortable menswear with cocoon-like shapes, as though the wearer is held inside the story of the shop. Waterproof nylon recalls his father’s jacket; upcycled knits refer to the insulating layers worn beneath it; lightweight denim brings the ease of clothing made for work and movement. Actual fishing lures enter the garments alongside phosphorescent beading, glowing piping, and luminous silk-screened details.

The collection is colorful and layered in the light. When the lights go out, many details recede and its glowing elements come forward, making the change in perception part of how the clothes are experienced. Navy and dark blue evoke the sea and winter nights; phosphorescent green and iridescent tones draw from the lures and plastic fish. Burgundy and deep brown bring in the shelves, surfaces, and hardware of the shop.

Joe keeps the practical materials and protective feeling of his father’s world, then reimagines them through light, color, and changing visibility. Joe’s Whale transforms a familiar place by attending to what was there all along, waiting to be seen differently.