IFM BA 2025: Clothes as Biography

Ahimsa Arce
New York, USA
“Fly away from the dirty boulevard”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

In this collection, I pay homage to downtown New York, without anchoring it to a specific time period. The Lower East Side has long been a haven for both the overlooked and the creatively driven. While I could have opted for something more abstract or experimental, my primary goal was to create pieces that would resonate with my friends back home. My designs draw inspiration from the attitude and aesthetics of the downtown hardcore and club scenes. I embraced the flaws and imperfections in the garments – irregular fits, rips, and tears – to reflect the raw essence of the scene.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I experimented with a range of materials, including rusted metal leaves – oxidised and glittered to reflect light – and a variety of leathers: varnished, laser-printed, and untreated. I also used fur to create headpieces inspired by wild hairstyles. For silhouettes, I explored gestures like holding or adjusting your clothes, focusing on the interaction between the hand and the pocket. Each look uses material pairing and gesture to define who the individual is.

What’s next?

Hopefully, a visa! As a non-EU citizen, staying in the country after school can be a real challenge. Still, I hope to stay connected to both communities I’ve found in Paris and New York. My goal is to avoid getting caught in the industry’s politics or stuck in endless internships. I want to start something of my own – not just in fashion, but a project that highlights community and can expand into art, music, design, and even food.

@ahimsa_arce

Alan Llorca Roose
Salou, Spain
“Tension & Flow”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection explores the tension between weight and emptiness through the lens of a working man – physically strong, grounded by duty, yet quietly poetic. Inspired by Robert Morris’s felt sculptures and Paul Lee’s fragile compositions, garments begin as rigid, square-cut panels, then are slit and collapsed to evoke motion and release. Rooted in archetypal menswear – denim, canvas, wool – the pieces transform through subtraction, destabilising their solidity. The result is a suspended moment of tension: a visual metaphor for a man who builds with his hands, carries the weight of responsibility, yet longs for softness, expression, and space to dream.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The foundational gesture is the slit: beginning with flat, square-cut panels, slits are introduced to provoke movement and release – garments appear suspended, pulled, or collapsing, capturing a moment of tension frozen in motion. Heavy-duty fabrics such as denim, canvas, and wool echo Morris’ felt sculptures in weight and durability. These materials are lightened not by composition, but by subtraction – gravity reshapes them through strategic cuts. The colour palette is personal: influenced by cities visited with my parents, tied to my Spanish and Belgian roots, and inspired by the visual energy of artists like Jim Lambie.

What’s next?

Driven by a deep passion for garment-making, I’m eager to join a fashion house after IFM to immerse myself in the rhythm of a professional studio, contribute meaningfully, and refine my design voice through hands-on experience and creative collaboration.

@canroose

Antoine Lledo
Paris, France
“3”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

The garment becomes both a refuge and a manifesto. The pieces question and explore the primary function of textiles: to protect the body. I trace the spectrum of protection – from soft draping inspired by modesty cloths in classical painting to the structured force of extreme technical garments – positioning clothing as both shelter and statement.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

This is primarily a leather-based collection, where I aimed to challenge my approach to the material by treating it with delicacy and tactility. Leather is cut into cords for embroidery, crochet, and fringe; python is sliced into strips for its graphic quality; and perforated leather mimics mesh. I also wove my own mohair fabric using super-long fibres to resemble fur. Silhouettes are straightforward, allowing texture, technique, and colour to carry the narrative.

What’s next?

I’d love to intern in the leather department of a brand that prioritises creative, artisanal construction. I’m especially drawn to textile development and embellishment, and want to continue experimenting with surface techniques – particularly within accessories and bag design.

@antoinelledo

Assoké Félix Loadjro
Paris, France / Abidjan, Ivory Coast
“BABI”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection is a tribute to Abidjan, the vibrant capital of Côte d’Ivoire. It celebrates the street as a runway, sport as a universal language, and the Ivorian people as a generative creative force. Each look embodies a character – a fragmented identity shaped by a city where fashion, sport, and digital imagery blur into one.

The tension between authenticity and artifice, the human and the mask, runs throughout. BABI is my way of translating Abidjan’s plurality – its many faces, its kinetic energy – which has always pulsed through my creative practice.

Watch the short film here.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

This was a deeply experimental process. I pushed the IFM fablab to its limits, exploring sublimation on polyester and DTG printing on organic fabrics. I laser-cut TPU fringes, 3D printed a sculpted belly, and used a cutting plotter to code my flocked sportswear pieces.

The goal was to investigate how far technology can stretch fashion today. The palette draws from Abidjan’s heat and light –roasted oranges, blazing reds, incandescent yellows, radiant whites – saturated tones that channel the city’s visual and emotional intensity.

What’s next?

I want to work inside a major fashion house. There’s a knowledge that only comes from practice – seeing how a creative vision is sustained within a larger structure.

I’m especially drawn to houses that operate at the intersection of conceptual clarity and cultural storytelling: Jean Paul Gaultier under Duran Lantink, Dior under Jonathan Anderson, or Vetements under Guram Gvasalia.

@loadjro

Chloé Laplante
Paris, France
“0 FR”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

Symbols – especially the egg – are at the heart of this collection. I was drawn to its form, its richness, and its layered, often hidden meanings. The wardrobe references are just as fluid in time: garments from the Middle Ages, the space age, contemporary silhouettes, and imagined futures inspired by science fiction. Symbols, after all, don’t belong to any single era – they shift in resonance depending on the moment in which they appear.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I combined traditional and digital processes: marquetry, knitwear, and 3D printing. Materials range from plastics to natural ones like leather, wool, and even eggshells. I’m fascinated by visual contrast – particularly the vivid palettes found in Caravaggio and Medieval painting – and this plays a role in the tension and texture of each piece.

What’s next?

“Walking on eggs” (as the French expression goes) is the best way to create – stay precarious, stay bold, never stop.

Clementine Smith
California, USA
“Pretty Colors”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

The collection challenges the idealised image of the 1950s American man – romanticised in popular culture as a figure of tailored perfection, rigid masculinity, and power through control. I kept the emblematic broad-shouldered silhouette but softened its edges, inviting vulnerability to coexist with structure.

This is a quiet undoing of the Hollywood archetype. My man is not built by fear or shaped to uphold broken ideals. He carries elegance without erasure, strength without dominance. Power, in this world, is found in detail – not display. He’s a dreamer, not an enforcer.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

The process began with experimenting in colour and texture but evolved into a more restrained palette, inspired by the black-and-white aesthetic of 1950s film. Black, white, and greyscale dominate – reflecting a mood of classic elegance while subverting its connotations.

I worked with a mix of traditional tailoring fabrics and softer materials to create tension and balance. Construction techniques were rooted in classic tailoring and draping, allowing subtle gestures to take centre stage.

What’s next?

You tell me! Navigating this industry is already complex, and I’m choosing to stay open. Maybe I’ll start my own brand one day, but right now I’m focused on seeing where the opportunities take me.

@Cl3mentinesmith

Erwan L’Héron
Pujaudran, France
“André, Line, Jacques”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

I started this collection by looking at old family photographs I discovered in a house once owned by my grandmother, taken decades ago in a rural village in the Gers region of France. These archives reflect a time when clothing, gestures, and daily habits clearly defined one’s place in a structured, community-oriented society. In contrast, my personal memories of the same village – visited as a child and later as a teenager – reveal a place now marked by absence, abandonment, and the slow erosion of rural culture. Through this collection, I explore this shift by translating a fading memory into garments: silhouettes gradually move from traditional, codified clothing to abstract, minimal forms, echoing the symbolic disappearance of social and sartorial reference points.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The materials and techniques used in this collection reflect a narrative inspired by archival family photographs. I worked mainly with leather for its structure and rigidity, echoing the formal dress codes visible in the images. Tartan and stripes – often worn by children in school portraits – were reinterpreted through leather printing, cotton poplin, and woven leather bands. Wool fabrics of varying weights reference rural utilitarian clothing, while exotic leather deadstock was used for small accessories as symbolic remnants. Embossing techniques on leather helped express the idea of fading codes, supporting the collection’s progression from structured forms to abstract silhouettes.

What’s next?

I’m looking forward to gaining hands-on experience through an internship in a fashion house studio, with the goal of eventually joining a team where I can continue to grow and refine my skills. I’m particularly interested in being part of a creative environment that challenges and inspires me daily. I’m also open to opportunities abroad – whether in Italy, the UK, or New York – and excited by the idea of discovering new perspectives and working cultures. In the longer term, I’m not closing the door to pursuing a Master’s in fashion design and developing a new collection after gaining more experience.

@erwan.lhr

Eugenia Alonso Alexander
Mexico City, Mexico
“Les jouets de la ville”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

For this collection, my starting point was the idea of personifying “The City.” I wanted to explore the unconscious relationship we have with physical space: are we walking through the city, or is she leading us? Is she watching us? Do these spaces shape our inner landscapes, and can places themselves hold memory? I drew inspiration from Mexico City in the 1930s and the triadic ballet costumes created during the Bauhaus era – costumes that translated architecture onto the body.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

It was important for me to reconnect with artisanal techniques and know-how. Craftsmanship is often associated with a nostalgic or “old” aesthetic, but I wanted to push these methods to create something visually contemporary. I explored 3D construction to produce fully seamless pieces and developed a wooden bead weaving technique as part of a sustainability course – reinterpreting traditional methods to imagine new material possibilities.

What’s next?

Take a step back from what I know and how I think about fashion. Read a bit, laugh a bit, sleep a lot. And maybe go back home to Mexico and South America to reconnect with a more intuitive, artistic way of making.

@eugenia_alonso

Gonzalo García-Marina
Valladolid, Spain
Untitled Collection

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

My collection doesn’t revolve around a theme – it’s a structural and emotional reconciliation with fashion, rooted in a 2D to 3D construction principle. It began as an intuitive exploration of archetypes, minimal cutting, and material experimentation. The focus wasn’t on creating a polished result, but on letting the process unfold quickly and instinctively. This rhythm allowed me to explore the garment as a space of possibility – an ongoing dialogue between form, function, and unconscious decision-making.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The central idea was the “intelligent garment”: abstract shapes made wearable through a clear and efficient process. I played with material displacement – using wild silk for jeans, silk gazar for sweatpants, and crystal embroidery on a technical parka. Bags are made of jersey, and jewellery is embedded into shoes. These contrasts – elegant vs. mundane, precious vs. practical – create tension and harmony in equal measure.

What’s next?

I want to continue reconnecting with fashion on my own terms. Being obsessed with it from a young age created expectations that didn’t always align with the industry reality. Now, I’m looking for that spark again – the joy and curiosity that first pulled me in. I’m also excited to keep meeting people in this space, exchanging ideas, and finding new ways to experience both fashion and life.

@gonzalogmarina

Goun Jeong
Busan, South Korea
“JJAKKUNG”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

The key inspiration behind this collection comes from the rooms I’ve lived in through a life of constant movement – most vividly, my grandmother’s room. Opening her wardrobe feels like stepping into a quiet overlap of time. Classic pieces from her youth like trench coats and peacoats hang beside bold, kitschy clothes in vibrant colours. That gentle clash between past and present moved me deeply, and I wanted to weave both time frames into a single narrative. Each piece in the collection holds the volume of lived spaces, coloured by the warm, unapologetic spirit of my grandmother’s world.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

Everything in this collection draws from the wardrobe of a Korean grandmother. I was especially inspired by how many Korean grandmothers boldly layer garments with small patterns, creating a unique visual rhythm. All the prints in the collection were created by me. I printed mainly on textured white fabrics, allowing the patterns to interact with the surface and generate new visuals. In terms of volume, I aimed to capture a sense of three-dimensional space within the garments.

What’s next?

More volume. More bold. I want to create clothes where generous volumes and daring colours can play freely in people’s everyday lives.

@gounlj

Jihao Liu
Shanghai, China
“Howie’s”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection disrupts a preppy boy’s wardrobe by infusing it with medieval elements. It satirises how authority and identity are shaped and policed in today’s society.

Using a Western visual grammar, I recontextualise and parody familiar symbols – exposing their absurdity from an outsider’s perspective. The work is both playful and pointed, confronting systems of control through sartorial inversion.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

Everything is flipped. A horse leather gilet mimics armour. Tartan trousers are foiled with medieval crowds. A corduroy hunting coat is lined in silver leather. The Polo Ralph Lauren logo is reversed – the horse rides the man. Gothic-font slogans say nothing. Dropped-crotch trousers mock decorum.

Techniques include laser engraving, silver foiling, and laser cutting. The result is a material-led satire that collides prep and medieval archetypes, questioning authority, tradition, and the politics of self-presentation.

What’s next?

Work. In an industry that increasingly targets the Asian market, yet rarely includes Asian voices at the top, I want to help shift that dynamic – so what’s made for us isn’t always made without us.

@jihaoliu_

Julius Scheffel
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
“Younger Self, Older”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection explores the tension between the unselfconscious child and the socially adapted adult. Naive craftsmanship and vivid colours meet refined silhouettes in a search for emotional balance. As we grow, we often suppress spontaneous gestures and raw emotions – filtered through shame, judgment, and expectation. Joy, anger, and curiosity become controlled rather than instinctive.

By fusing gestural emotion with intentional construction, I sought a balance between playfulness and sophistication. This collection is a reminder that reconnecting with our younger selves can invite more ease, honesty, and joy into our adult lives.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

I approached patternmaking and draping as if working with A4 paper – preserving excess fabric while stitching along the original lines to allow for accidental outcomes that sit between structure and spontaneity.

This tension extended into textile choices: I mixed soft jerseys and tailoring fabrics with paper-like and plasticky materials, some of which I manipulated with hand-drawn or digitally embroidered illustrations. Bold, vivid colours collide with neutrals – like a child with no sense of style collaborating with a seasoned fashion designer.

What’s next?

This collection helped me find joy in a world that often demands maturity. I want to carry that spirit forward. I’m now looking for an internship at a brand that encourages creative risk while helping me stay true to my identity. My hope is to keep growing, exploring, and playing – through fashion.

@juliusscheffel

Lucien Caillou Branchelot
Paris, France
“L’Homme empêché, en péché”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

It begins with a simple question: Where do I find the body in a cloth? From there, I started exploring the relationship between body and garment, and soon, the idea of sensuality and desire emerged. I decided to layer this with Catholic garments – where the body is at once the evidence of original sin and something to be concealed. Designing sensuality through garments made to suppress it became an exciting contradiction.

I added motorsport as a final layer – because of its physical intensity and because designing a body-car felt like crafting a new body. It’s a sensual, charged, and conflicting world.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

It’s a bit of a mix. I worked with two distinct material families: one referencing Catholic garments and one tied to motorsport. Sometimes these were switched – motorsport materials used for ecclesiastical silhouettes, and vice versa – to create ambiguity. It blurs the line between priest and driver, forcing the viewer to choose what they want to see.

In terms of colour and technique, I kept it simple: black, white, grey, blue, red, yellow. Techniques were straightforward, but extremely precise – I spent hours pattern-cutting and sewing. The simplicity is intentional – it lets you get lost in the shapes: of the body, the silhouette, the folds.

What’s next?

I want to keep creating – whether through design or image-making. Today, it’s hard to be truly independent and push your own vision, especially as a young designer. But I want to try. I want to build and share the worlds I carry inside me, under my own banner. Whether through image, storytelling, or fashion itself – I just want to keep making. No matter the cost 🙂

@lucienquinapasinsta

Lyrone Journo
Paris, France
“Perfect Everyday”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

The collection explores how we perceive everyday elements – those familiar objects we instinctively stay attached to. My starting point was the idea of reimagining the mundane through a couture lens, where gesture and drape take the lead. Inspired by simple items like a bath towel or a garment hanging on a coat rack, I sought to transform the ordinary into a source of elegance. Materials are loosened, constructions are enveloped, clothes fall – but remain held in place by intentional points of attachment that capture movement. Towels accumulate, layers pile up, gestures are accentuated.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I used archetypal everyday fabrics to preserve a sense of familiarity. A key example is the bath towel, reinterpreted through trompe l’oeil in crusted leather to elevate the mundane. For jewellery, I reimagined coat hangers and bath taps – twisting their forms into 3D-printed necklaces, blending domestic reference points with sculptural finesse.

What’s next?

I’d like to start at a Parisian fashion house to better understand the inner workings of the industry and refine my place within a creative team. At the same time, I want to continue nurturing my own creative vision – staying sincere to what I love, evolving from that base, and building something bigger that continues to inspire me.

@lyronejourno

Peru Goenaga Goicoechea
San Sebastian, Basque Country
“SOMNIS (act)”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

The intention behind this collection is to build in contrast: rawness and intuition (dreams) against technical precision (action). Drawing from bold 1980s menswear graphics and 1950s geometric abstraction – particularly Pablo Palazuelo’s trans-geometric paintings – I translated abstract forms into patterns that interact with the body.

Rejecting image-led design in favour of material exploration, I focused on pattern cutting, layering, finishes, and contrasting materials. I also merged influences from 1980s technical skiwear with fluid, soft pieces, creating tension and harmony between structured function and delicate movement. It’s ultimately a collection about unity through opposition.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

I began by extracting shapes from Palazuelo’s work and forcing them into three-dimensional garments – starting with flat abstraction and translating it through pattern making and draping. I used sports and outerwear fabrics like nylon, hand-washed sheep wool, leather, cotton gabardine, and jersey, contrasting them with chiffons, sequins, and taffetas.

The base colour palette is neutral – white, beige, grey – punctuated by brushstrokes of vivid pink, cyan, and yellow.

What’s next?

In this moment of flux across creative teams, I hope to find a first job – after an internship – at a brand that values both creativity and technical precision. This feels like a time when emerging designers might carve out space within the shifting structures. Ideally, I’d like to join a small, ambitious team doing big things. The industry needs new names, new voices.

@peru_goenaga

Raphaël Ignazi
Paris, France
“Les Voleuses”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

Les Voleuses imagines a group of elegant, thrill-seeking women – bored with their privileged lives – who turn to art theft not for need, but for pleasure. It’s a fantasy of subversion wrapped in wealth, led by an eternal muse: Catherine Deneuve. Her image, equal parts aloof and iconic, helped shape the collection’s refined but mischievous tone.

I wanted to reinterpret the wardrobe of the ultra-wealthy woman with a twist: one eye on elegance, the other on cunning utility. These are garments made for stylish crime, where concealment and utility become embedded in design. The pieces ask: how can one steal with grace?

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

I worked with materials typically associated with old-world luxury – tweed, duchess satin, embroidery, and velvet – but gave them a contemporary spin. I developed jersey prints that mimic tweed, allowing garments to stretch and mold, hiding stolen objects with ease.

The colour blue dominates – chosen for its associations with wealth and refinement. Blue velvet, in particular, echoes museum display stands, linking the wardrobe of the thief to the objects she covets. It’s a playful clash of tradition and trickery, surface and subtext.

What’s next?

I’d love to gain experience in a couture house like Schiaparelli – somewhere with creative ambition and exacting standards. I’m also drawn to accessories and jewellery, and considering a Master’s in that field to build new technical skills and storytelling tools.

Ultimately, though, my passion lies in creating collections. Designing is how I make sense of the world, and I hope to keep building a universe that merges narrative, elegance, and a little mischief.

@raphaelignazi

Rosalie Bernard
Toulouse, France
“There should be beauty contests for the insides of bodies”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection explores the quiet violence of control in contemporary society – how freedom has been reframed through legislative, medical, and moral pressures. Feathers appear throughout the garments as both delicate and invasive: they cover, cling, and constrain. At once a symbol of flight, they become parasitic, gently suffocating. The emotional tone draws from the unsettling beauty found in Dead Ringers by Cronenberg and the visceral work of Julia Ducournau – stories that disturb, yet mesmerise. Visually, I looked to the 1940s – a time of political oppression – referencing its silhouettes and structure to explore the tension between restriction and allure.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I worked primarily with wool and various yarns, embedding feathers through hand embroidery to create an eerie tactility. I also developed a knitwear technique that mimics weaving, allowing for structural manipulation, and used 3D printing to craft precise shoulder pads. The palette is intentionally dark – white, grey, deep navy, and black – with flashes of silver to highlight detail and catch the light. Every element serves to heighten the mood: restrained, haunting, meticulous.

What’s next?

Rest. To see something other than a sewing machine or mannequin.

Then: work, connect with others, and keep evolving. I want to deepen my perspective and continue building a creative language that reflects what I feel and see.

@rosalie_brnd

Théo Senesane
Strasbourg, France
“Petals of Defiance”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

Women. Being surrounded by strong, independent women like my mother and grandmother really pushed me to make this collection about them. Especially today, with women’s rights being reduced, beauty norms becoming extreme, and voices being silenced, I wanted to create a manifesto. My models became my muses. The goal was to highlight them – to make them feel powerful and beautiful. This is a collection about a woman who fights to be her true self in a society that doesn’t accept her as she is.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The concept played on the contrast between “haute couture” and “streetwear.” I used luxurious fabrics like satin duchesse and pure silk, alongside unconventional ones like paper, hair, and molleton. Colours are bold, and prints are playful – echoing the journey of experimenting with identity in a world where women are constantly told how they should be. Technically, I mixed traditional tailoring with soft, comforting materials to strike a balance between high-end and ease – to create clothes that feel empowering yet wearable.

What’s next?

I want to keep using fashion as a platform to speak out and push for change. While I eventually hope to launch my own label, my next step is to gain experience in both big and small houses to prepare myself fully. I want to stay curious, always learning from everything and everyone around me.

@theosenesane

Tall Tidjane
Paris, France
“Resonance in the Room”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection was born from a personal exploration of identity, heritage, and Blackness, rethinking elegance through a contemporary lens. Using my grandfather Baïdy Tall’s cabaret La Boule Noire – a symbol of freedom and cultural fusion in 1970s West Africa – as a starting point, I sought to open a new realm of elegance. Here, sculpture leads clothing, hair becomes feathers, and layered narratives shape each design, blending personal history with abstraction. It’s not about recreating the past, but transforming its essence into a new visual language where garments carry movement, sound, and story.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The palette is vibrant and intentionally bold, drawn from detailed image references that capture the essence of Blackness and individuality. I developed a laser-cut technique on silk and crepe to mimic the texture of Nigerian women’s wigs, creating feather-like fringes that move with the body. Light, fluid fabrics like silk and crepe support the ideas of motion, layering, and transformation, echoing the sensation of stepping into a new realm.

What’s next?

I hope to join a Parisian fashion house to continue learning and growing within the industry. I want to refine my vision while understanding how a larger structure tells stories at scale. In a few years, I aim to craft even bigger narratives – always led by intention and a desire to offer a fresh perspective on elegance.

@tidjjane

Vicente Aycaguer Muñoz
Santiago, Chile
“Susanna Valenti”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

My collection draws from Casa Susanna, a photobook and documentary about a house where men – who led typically heteronormative lives – would gather to dress and live as women. What struck me was how the rigid concepts of gender dissolved in that space. I wanted to explore the in-between: imagining the first moment someone tries on women’s clothing, embracing the so-called “mistakes” that come with discovery and self-expression.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

Inspired by the richness of Casa Susanna, I used vibrant colours, patterns, and textures with a contemporary lens. All prints feature an airbrushed finish to soften contrasts and blur boundaries. Lace – often associated with traditional femininity – was reimagined as stencils for fake appliqués, sealed under transparent vinyl to create a plastic, doll-like texture. I also crafted a faux fur coat entirely from lace. Linings were selected to function as both inner and outer fabrics, symbolising the merging of wardrobes and identities.

What’s next?

I’m hoping to intern at a Paris-based fashion house with a strong experimental or research-driven approach. I’m drawn to processes that start from vintage or found garments and evolve into something hybrid. I want to learn how the industry truly functions and contribute wherever I’m needed – ideally growing within a brand, even if that feels far off in today’s climate.

@vicenteaycaguer

Yelyzaveta Dimitriieva
Kharkiv, Ukraine
“Eastern Promises”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

Eastern Promises draws from the post-Soviet visual and emotional landscape of the 1990s and 2000s, reimagined with irony and affection. Symbols of everyday life – wall carpets, mosaics, knockoff sportswear – are juxtaposed with the ornate detail of Ukrainian folk craftsmanship. The collection is both a reflection and a reinterpretation: a commentary on cultural identity, memory, and transformation.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

The work plays with contrasts – softness and structure, tradition and subversion. I used velour for drape and ease, repurposed carpets for outerwear and trims, and mesh printed with carpet patterns to simulate tattoos on skin. Ukrainian motifs appear in machine knits, and I used heat-melted TPU yarn to create 3D textures and surfaces.

The palette is bold and emotionally rich – reds, turquoises, magentas, and soft yellows echo Ukrainian embroidery and domestic ceramics, tempered by greys, browns, and black to evoke a more sombre, post-Soviet backdrop.

What’s next?

I’m preparing to take part in Ukrainian Fashion Week as part of the Look into the Future competition (@litf.contest). Longer term, I’ll be splitting my time between Paris and Ukraine – continuing my practice in both places, supporting my country through design while growing an international creative presence.

@whatisluisa

Zelig Davoult
Caen, France
“VIENDRA LE TEMPS DU FEU”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection is born out of political urgency: a response to the genocide in Gaza and the growing authoritarianism shaping Western powers. I grew up in an environment where sociopolitical convictions were fundamental, so it felt natural – necessary – to speak out. It’s a collection shaped by protest and conviction, and I’ve called it VIENDRA LE TEMPS DU FEU to evoke both rupture and the possibility of ignition.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I began with materials rooted in protest culture – outerwear nylon, jersey hoodies, denim, military cotton – referencing the common wardrobe of demonstrators. I distorted those codes using paper posters, PVC, and damaged or transparent textures. Some prints use burned flex, graffiti bombs, and poster-style graphics. The colour palette centres on black, white, and red, with flashes of acid yellow and blue to create contrast and urgency.

What’s next?

It’s hard to say – I’ve been so focused on this collection for almost a year that it feels like closing a chapter. But I hope the work resonates, even slightly, with the causes I’m standing for. If it sparks awareness or reflection, even in a small way, I’d already consider that a success.

@zelighd

Zilan Ma
China
“NON-PLAYER”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection lives in the liminal static between Superliminal’s warped dimensions and Minecraft’s looping logic – a sartorial rebellion against the scripts we are coded to repeat. Here, six looks delve into the quiet chaos between truth and fiction. It invites the viewer into a space where the familiar becomes uncanny, and the uncanny becomes a mirror.

Each garment exists as a visual paradox – structured yet fluid, minimal yet elaborate. Shapes deceive, textures collide, and silhouettes transform depending on the angle of view. Like Magritte’s pipe that is not a pipe, these clothes whisper contradictions: this is real, this is not.

What materials, colours, and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

Rooted in traditional tailoring, I wanted to twist the expected language of suits and shirts into something slightly mischievous, even absurd. Using discarded foam and cardboard, I sculpted hidden structures beneath classic forms, allowing surreal shapes to quietly erupt from order. Laser-cut polyester film becomes a shifting surface, layered with sublimation prints inspired by both Minecraft and Magritte – playful visual illusions that ask the viewer to look twice. It’s a deliberate push and pull: between seriousness and satire, form and fantasy. Each material, each cut, is chosen to tip the balance just enough to make the ordinary feel uncanny.

What’s next?

Honestly, I’m not sure – and I’m okay with that. There’s a strange kind of hope in uncertainty, even when it aches. I’m learning to sit with the in-between, where clarity hasn’t quite arrived but something is still stirring. I want to keep creating, not just as an artist but as a way to heal. To return, somehow, to the rhythm of life while making something meaningful in the process. If my work can reach even one person in that quiet space where they need reflection or relief, then that’s where I want to be. That’s what’s next – for now.

@boomzilan

Ore Atowoju
Ibadan, Nigeria
“Clonette”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

What does a body feel like when it’s moulded for you? Clonette began with that question. Growing up, the doll was everywhere: rigid, glossy, mass-produced, plastic. I questioned the strange relationship between the doll and the child, the power we project onto it, and the quiet ways it shapes us in return. This collection explores that tension: animation and stillness, play and permanence. It’s about how we learn to live inside something that was never made for us—how a borrowed shell starts to feel like skin. Clonette becomes a metaphor for memory, self-authorship, and the stiff outlines of identity handed down rather than chosen.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

The materials of Clonette are characters in themselves: glossy printed salpa to simulate the doll’s skin, feathers trapped between layers of organza and satin, and unwoven asooke yarns that unravel tradition. Unweaving asooke became a way of questioning what holds us together—it is tradition undone but still full of intention. The colours are the first you learn to name: immediate, foundational, unfiltered by taste. Techniques include hand weaving and “unweaving,” textile fusing, digital printing, and flocking. Each look is part-garment, part keepsake—unfinished in the way growing up is: honest, awkward, still becoming.

What’s next?

I would like to expand Clonette into a multidisciplinary platform, starting with editorial and installation. I want to explore how Nigerian childhood relics, domestic objects, and archetypes can take on new life through material distortion, film, and spatial storytelling. Beyond garments, I’m interested in building environments and images that feel uncanny, sacred, and strangely familiar. I’m currently seeking collaborations that allow for experimentation and radical cultural introspection.

@mlle.ore

Simon Ancelin
Paris, France
“Index”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

With utmost simplicity, this collection explores the theme of fashion archives through the lens of childhood. From this viewpoint, techniques like padding and mannequinnage emerge – suggesting garments laid flat in storage, resting in their boxes. Silk paper, both material and metaphor, becomes a filter of childlike perception – guiding how I approach materials, colours, and volumes.

Each look is a conversation with a 20th-century designer. It’s my attempt to understand, reinterpret, and pay tribute to their legacy, seen with the naivety of someone still learning. It marks the end of my BA – and the beginning of deeper exploration.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

I wanted drawing and archiving to run in parallel. I used noble yet unexpected materials – sometimes padded, sometimes structured – to evoke collage and conservation. The colour palette is rooted in the world of illustration: white and bold primaries. I even created a silk-paper-like fabric that could be sewn.

Each look revisits a historic technique: the bias cut, Grès-style pleats, Charles James’s architectural cuts, Balenciaga’s suspended volumes, Chanel’s tailoring. But every reinterpretation includes a twist – like fixing pleats with black polka-dot vinyl – to make it feel like now.

What’s next?

I’d love to work in couture – keep learning from those who shape the future by mastering the past. I want to deepen my understanding of fabrics, shapes, and construction, ideally within a Parisian couture studio. It’s the kind of learning that lasts a lifetime – and that’s what I’m after.

@simon_ancelin

Ken Gongyuan Xie
Canton, China
Untitled Collection

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection explores the tension and harmony between two contrasting worlds: the carefree innocence of childhood and the structured rigidity of adulthood. I draw from beach vacations, cartoons, and playful memories – juxtaposing them with the formality of offices and work culture. By blending these spaces, I aim to blur binary dress codes across occasion and gender, evoking a sense of freedom, vulnerability, and quiet defiance.

What materials, colours and techniques did you use in the creation of this collection?

Balloons – my favourite childhood toy – appear as tassels on trousers and dresses, injecting joy into the garments. Colours are drawn from the cartoon characters I loved growing up: bright, saturated, and full of life.

Pattern-making was led by experimentation. I used strips draped directly on the mannequin, inspired by swimming pool lanes, and played with circular shapes to create silhouettes that feel spontaneous and fluid. Each piece invites movement and memory.

What’s next?

I want to contribute to the rising visibility of Asian designers in Paris. The fashion industry here can only benefit from broader cultural participation. I hope to keep designing, influencing how people dress with my creative DNA – and eventually build a label of my own.

@keeeeeen

Candice Morin
Saône-et-Loire, France
“Aînée”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

This collection pays tribute to my family roots, blending influences from a childhood shaped by strong masculinity and maternal heritage. It explores the tensions of mixed identity: the emotional restraint and expectations of a paternal legacy reflected in textured materials and structured silhouettes, and the softness of maternal influence expressed through drapes and organic details. The duality is embodied in layered designs, symbolising protective armour and intimate vulnerability, capturing the harmony and conflict within my upbringing.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I utilised a mix of draped fabrics alongside more structured materials, reflecting the duality at the heart of the designs. The colour palette draws from earthy and muted tones like browns, beiges, and greys, interspersed with pops of vibrant hues like bright blue and yellow to create striking contrast. Techniques such as draping, layering, and textural experimentation were employed – evident in the flowing, gathered forms and intricate details like woven or studded embellishments.

What’s next?

I want to improve my knowledge and work in a fashion brand where I can contribute creatively and professionally.

@kandysse_

Amandine Leost
Bretagne, France
“Pagaille”

What are the key inspirations behind this collection?

Carried by the spirit of the ’60s to ’80s, this collection is rooted in the world of second-hand and flea market hunting, where vintage patterns, bright colours, and quirky shapes bring a decidedly kitsch touch to each piece. It draws particular inspiration from the stereotypes of grandmothers – tender but eccentric figures whose outfits and behaviours seem frozen in another time. Old tapestries with bold prints and faded colours become oversized patterns on dresses, while dish towels, witnesses of daily life, are transformed into refined weavings. This playful and nostalgic world blends humour and freedom, echoing memories of a time not lived but collectively imagined.

What materials, colours and techniques did you utilise in the creation of this collection?

I worked with many colours and patterns reminiscent of a vintage era: flowers that are both faded yet contrasting, and monochrome green checks. To bring a raw and artisanal feel, I crafted garments using hand-woven knit tubes, which I enhanced beforehand to create a mix of patterns that merge together into new surfaces.

What’s next?

I’m seeking a space where I can share something genuine and keep evolving.

@amandine_leost