Representing the creative future

HEAD Genève MA 2024: specialised designers, big ideas

This year’s MA graduates embodied a diverse approach to contemporary design

As far as graduate collection presentations go, HEAD–Genève’s show was a big production. Its 2024 edition seemed to have it all: movement direction, music, styling, diverse casting, prestigious sponsors, a live stream, a front row with influencers and journalists and a spacious runway, softly lit and thoughtfully decorated with iridescent mesh panels (instead of the unflattering fluorescent lights and harsh industrial backdrops common in school productions). The show took nearly two hours and drew an audience of 2000, an operation as streamlined as – pardon the stereotype – a Swiss watch.

An industry expert jury (hailing from foundations, fashion brands and media outlets, including 1 Granary itself) allotted awards – which, in turn, supported graduates with grants, mentorships, exposure or deals for capsule collections or pop-up stores. Some graduates worked with wax and silver jewellery, others used colourful pleats or flowy tonal silk. Their varying collections also spotlighted the different profiles expected of fashion’s future designers and creative directors: storytellers, technical innovators, trend forecasters, artists, artisans.

Yabin Chen’s collection, for example, questioned patriarchal wedding rituals from her hometown, intertwining elements “from traditional Chinese clothing,” with zippers and buttons, to symbolise a woman’s bodily ownership. Knitwear designer Léanne Claude collaborated with local spinning mills and artisans to spotlight the supply chain behind a knitted garment, whereas Xavier Weber experimented with next-gen materials, creating fabric out of rolling paper, silk and bioplastic.

Backstage defile HEAD 2024 Defile HEAD 2024 // Backstage // Scenographie imaginee par les etudiant.e.x.s du Master Espace & Communication et un univers visuel propose par Offshore.

Marie Boutin 

SUPERLIKE is “a story of a woman who decided to stop running after love and run away with her motorcycle,” Marie Boutin says. Mostly crafted in leather, her collection contains hyper-feminine iterations of the traditional, protective motorcycle suits. Marie padded the shoulders of dresses and used white stripes (which, in their original context, ensure a rider’s visibility) to accentuate feminine forms. Showstoppers include bright red two-pieces and gowns – knits, silk and leather iterations. “The pop culture inspiration with the knitted Red-flag dress or the archetype of the silk gala dress from a romcom embodies the drama side of this muse,” Marie says. She also reconstructed corsets to “defeat the original patriarchy-coded corset and reappropriate the strength of this ultra-feminine archetype.”

 

Léanne Claude

“As a young designer specialising in knitwear, I quickly realised my work depends on the expertise of others,” Léanne Claude says. “However, these actors are often rendered invisible in favour of the image-based professions within fashion.” In an industry that relies heavily on the exploitation of nature, animals and human labour, Léanne is part of a growing counter-movement connecting us to the origins of our clothes – both aesthetically and through transparent, ethical supply chains. Claude’s collection, Weaving Connections, consists largely of woollen knitwear, for which she explored Switzerland’s wool ecosystem and “collaborated directly with local spinning mills and artisans.” To amplify that story, she uses folkloric, nearly elvish aesthetics: loose hand knits, asymmetrical silhouettes, long flowy straps and layered textures like a forest’s layering of bushes and trees. “I work exclusively with yarns in their natural colour, emphasising the material in its original state,” she says.

Loris Narduzzi 

If one should dress for the job they want, I’d wear Loris Narduzzi’s collection, Andiamo a Funghi. Loris explains it was inspired by “a family tradition of mushroom picking, a practice passed down by my grandparents,” and the “Swiss underground rave culture, where raves often take place in the forests of my region.” To marry these worlds, he started with his grandparents’ clothes and “had people dance in them, observing their movements and attitudes.” The result is wholesome rave-wear (perhaps a little Gorpcore). Laid-back knits – elastic waist trousers, hoodies and soft grey knits – are paired with more tailored yet grungy items: shirts or coats with distinct hardware and raw edges, incorporating materials like organic waxed cotton, Italian wool, and nylon twill. One of the models dons a second-skin-like hooded top with hardware eyelets that bare her ears. Others carry little mushroom-picking baskets. “Friends contributed to jewellery, print design, and the photoshoot, while my grandmothers helped with knitted pieces. This community effort reflects the essence of mushroom picking and raves, where the sense of togetherness is fundamental.”

Alan Clerc 

If you ask fashion students which garments are the hardest to make (and especially, make right), they’ll probably answer: tailored suits, corsets or outerwear. Alan Clerc’s collection, [InProcess], contained all of the above, including a structured denim pantsuit with contrast stitching and a large trench cinched by a leather garter belt. “I focused on archetypal garments that have always intrigued me: tailoring, corsetry, and underwear, combining these elements to reshape traditional menswear silhouettes,” Alan says. Whereas corsets have historically been used to confine women into taking up less space, in Alan’s tailored menswear, they do the opposite – adding intrigue and sensuality to a collection that prioritises wearability and timelessness. As he puts it: “My approach combines bodily experience with the development of garments to celebrate craftsmanship and explore the intimate relationship between clothing and the body.”

Oriana Tundo 

Considering the smallness of jewellery (compared to a coat or floor-length dress), Oriana Tundo’s HOt LoVE commanded the large runway impressively. Granted, Oriana’s jewellery – oversized spiky cable chains and multi-hooped earrings – has proportion and attitude. “My collection explores the concept of community, drawing inspiration from punk aesthetics, like studs and piercings, and the DIY Ethos,” she says, continuing: “My process begins with assembling elements into shapes and collaging images to explore unconventional aesthetics. I then move to physical assembly, combining jewellery pieces, found objects, and clay elements, which I photograph and rework digitally.”

Yabin Chen 

“My collection is inspired by my hometown, Fujian province in China, where women undergo a ritual during their wedding,” Yabin Chen says. “In this patriarchal game, women are forced to perform a series of restrictive actions and wear traditional garments to ‘protect’ their future husbands.” A Bride’s Rebirth challenges the “vision of women this ritual implies” and is rich in symbolism and storytelling. It features skirts and dresses in sleek silhouettes, with elements like standing collars and asymmetrical cuts, some of which are “archetypal elements from traditional Chinese clothing.” She toyed with burning techniques to represent the act of walking over fire – in the fight against traditional constraints. “I don’t want to abide by the archetype of the perfect woman, I am an assertive and sensible woman,” she says, using fastenings like zippers and buttons to “represent women’s freedom and control over their bodies.”

Saeyeon Ahn 

Move over, Issey Miyake! Saeyeon Ahn’s collection has a lot of pleats: halter tops or dresses that cascade alongside the body, moving with their wearer. She uses bold colours, fuchsia and neon green, bright blue and yellow and iridescent pink. It all fits, symbolically, practically, and physically. Titled My Youthful Spirit Whispers … and Shouts!, Saeyeon explains her collection aims to “break the stereotype that ageing leads to a dull and depressing life.” She continues: “The pleating technique used in this collection creates a rhythmic interplay of folds and unfolds that naturally complements the contours of ageing bodies. To enhance this dynamic interaction between the fabric’s rhythm and mature bodies, I eliminated traditional pattern-making and adopted an easy-making process by simply folding the fabric in half and sewing.”

Defile HEAD 2024 // Collection ??My Youthful Spirit Whispers...and Shouts! ? d'Ahn Saeyeon Master Design Mode et Accessoires // Scenographie imaginee par les etudiant.e.x.s du Master Espace & Communication et un univers visuel propose par Offshore.

Alaa Alaradi 

Seeing the garments from Alaa Alaradi’s further deeper softer closer – silk, naturally draped and ethereally flowing around the body, but silver and wrinkled leather too – a line by Jeffrey Eugenides springs to mind. It’s about one of his protagonists in The Virgin Suicides, Lux Lisbon, “the most naked person with clothes on.” Looking at Alaa’s garments feels similarly voyeuristic. And sure, many of them are sheer. But “this collection is intimate; it exists in the way I perceive things, through my instinct and my hand,” Alaa says. She continues: “I didn’t design the collection sitting by my desk.” Instead, she created it on one of her models. “We styled the pieces together until it felt right. Styling and free-hand draping are my go-to ways of working. Making clothes isn’t just about the designer; it’s also about the women who wear them.”

Louis Karim Kagny 

Prior to creating his collection, Living Breathing Fashion, Louis Karim Kagny did the following: “I transformed my atelier into a photo studio for a year and played around 3D and 2D imagery and shapes.” His creations (tailored jackets, shirts and plenty of printed tees) are wearable, but not in the way they’re conventionally worn. Jumpers aren’t really jumpers, but scarves or aprons. A blue trench isn’t worn by a model, but by the suitcase that model is toting. Also, nobody is wearing shoes. It all feels a bit dissociative or undone, which might be Louis’s point. “I’d like to highlight the photography,” he says. “The clothes are gone. They sit in someone’s wardrobe or on someone’s body. But through the imagery archives, I can connect to the collection at any given time.”

Xavier Weber

With earth tones and rich textures, Xavier Weber’s garments look like they’d protect you against harsh outdoor elements while mirroring those elements, too. “I grew up in the Alps, and then on a volcano with my mother. And on the other hand, in a small ghetto and gipsy camps in the south of France with my father,” Xavier says. “My collection, Wercors, is a reflection of my journey.” The collection relies heavily on pattern cutting, darts and unique garment construction, “mixing the wardrobes of the environments in which I grew up.” Using innovative cutting techniques, Xavier turned volcanic stone into a signature reference. You can see it in a tailored suit, skirt, top, a backpack… Xavier also “created a fabric out of rolling paper, silk and bioplastic, which is 100% natural – as well as a fake reindeer mohair jacquard, a spider web knit lace jumper and more.”

Lucie Lascaux and Simon Valabrègue

For their collection, Ah!, Lucie Lascaux and Simon Valabrègue bent the rules in ways that make fashion people go: “Ah! I didn’t realise one could do that.” For starters, they collaborated. “We have similar views on fashion and, to be honest, sharing some of the burden is a relief too,” they explain. Their garments are colourful. Dresses and trousers are gathered or seamed in uncommon places, whereas bubble-like constructions make you wonder if they’re even garments at all – which is exactly the point. The duo says: “We developed processes derived from traditional clothes-making, but removed from some of their technical constraints and aesthetical motivations. In a sense, these expressions allowed us to distance ourselves from the premise that garments are reproducible and standardised. It raises questions on what might be bespoke as opposed to ready-to-wear, what might be fashion as opposed to art.”