Institut Français de la Mode MA 2022: Crafting Utopia From Uncertainty

Claire Barreau – Fashion Design 

False nail chainmail is Claire Barreau’s feminine armour. “Having had eating disorders since my childhood I couldn’t dress as I desired, like all the other little girls, so fashion directly represented the unattainable – a dream,” says the French designer, who found acceptance in the photographic caricatures of Nadia Lee Cohen and strength in Maurizio Di Lorio’s garish imagery. Entitled J’te Dérange, her collection materialises girlish nostalgia through bubblegum pinks, unravelled slinky toys that jerkily contort the skin, then artificial hair textiles, hosiery laden with fake eyelashes, and bead-peppered balaclavas. “Its creation has allowed me to accept and assume a part of my history and hopefully help other people. I started to draw and imagine the clothing that I longed to be able to wear because it has the power to transmit sensations, to give self-confidence as a fantasy extension of our personality,” she explains. From afar, the sweetheart motifs and candylike bras emit an otherworldly feel, yet her own vision of fantasy isn’t one of the gingerbread houses, but one set in an inclusive reality. “I don’t care about the dictated standard of beauty. I made a collection that goes from [European] size 34 to size 48 because all bodies and ages are beautiful and I want to represent that,” says Barreau, noting how garments were initially draped on her mother and best friend. Determined to champion diversity, she intends to launch her own brand beyond graduation: “I’m 23-years-old, at 25 I promised myself that I would give up everything to make that wish come true.”

Ariadna Becerra Lendinez – Fashion Design

Turning academia into artistry, Ariadna Becerra Lendinez pieced her collection together from fragments of fashion theory; using a research paper about clothing and the body as an unlikely starting point. It led her to understand the psychology of colour, exploring how perspectives on the human form are contorted and challenged based on visual signifiers. “How we decide to dress has a direct effect on impressions, behaviours, and performance of the wearer and observer,” says the Barcelonian native. Thus, the designer subverted known identities of everyday garments, such as a basic t-shirt and tailored jacket, into corkscrew draping that is unexpected, even reactionary. Utilising deadstock jerseys and wools to do so, Ariadna pushes the capabilities of textile manipulation to an abstract degree. In much the same way, the course also tested her capabilities as a person: “It was hard, at times, to focus on what seemed a superfluous project, in comparison to the dual morality of world crises, and having to put all my thoughts into the collection.” She underscores lessons learnt in self-affirmation and enhanced creativity, using these positive experiences at IFM to seek a progressive future. “I’m looking for a maison workplace that is deeply connected to political and environmental issues, that fights to be relevant and allows me to continue searching for ways to raise my thoughts about gender, feminism, and sustainability,” she adds.

Hugo Castejon-Blanchard – Fashion Design

“I use the selfie picture as a muse.” On a quest to materialise vanity, Hugo Castejon-Blanchard looked to mirrors for the answer. Hidden in reflections, he found attitude, admiration, “but also the search for identity and the fear of not liking one’s appearance,” he says. These elements are seen in his model’s cloaked heads, their vests that have been crumpled by tense knuckles and elasticated waistbands haphazardly lowered as though one cannot decide what to wear. There are also virile aspects in the Narcisse collection; protruding codpieces that speak to the masculine ego. ”I am working through universal elements of the male wardrobe. Blue suits, grey joggers, and soccer jerseys, because I wanted to blur the details of a common language,” the designer explains. Prior to his time at IFM, Hugo had traversed from his home of Lyon, France, to a fashion exchange programme in South Korea. It was afterwards that he worked briefly for Chloe in the dressmaking department. Here he found an affinity for detail that underpinned his MA project, stepping away from surface decoration but towards textile development. “I wanted to build garments with emotion, that are natural and spontaneous. To forget about the challenges we can face as students, to produce something ‘big’  or ‘showy’  – where instead I opted for trompe l’oeil.” This rejection of superficiality is rare in a world fabricated by filters yet the designer is confident that authentic expression has its place. Particularly in the fashion industry, where he ambitiously heads to find work for a design studio.

Etienne Diop – Fashion Design

Etienne Diop designs at a cultural confluence between the racial state of France and colonialism in his parents’ homeland of Senegal, West Africa. Rejecting imperial values, the designer launched a brand entitled Tareet, which translates from ancient Wolof dialect to the phrase “it tears”. In one sense, a linguistic nod to fabric ripping, and in another, a reference to the political tearing up of tradition. “The purpose of this collection is to reflect my position as a Métis man,” says Etienne. “I looked at the daily life that surrounds me.” Before joining IFM, the designer spent two years studying as a modelist formation in his birthplace of Marseille, noticing increased police violence on the streets as well as public discrimination against race, gender, and religion. His MA collection encapsulates that disorder through a spliced approach that blends African vestiaire and streetwear into primitive weaves, produced in imposing volumes to reflect the scale of urban architecture. “Working with heavy, heritage fabrics was the greatest challenge – because they came from my family I was obliged to do a beautiful job,” he says. Due to their weight, the garments had to be fitted on human models instead of mannequins, so Etienne believes organisation has been an invaluable skill acquired from the course. “I am grateful for everything I have learned so far, but my final objective is to open design schools in Marseille and Dakar – the capital of Senegal – to give people from the hood, at a disadvantage, the opportunity to make fashion and art.”

Erato Fotopoulos – Fashion Design

Digital overload: it’s staring at screens until your eyes squint, it’s information saturation and being so steeped in connectivity that cognitive function suffers. It’s also the focal point of Erato Fotopoulos’ MA collection, which addresses the “non-stop multitask” mode in modern brains. “I focused on moments of confusion and mnemic emptiness, that we are left with after consuming too much, when a feeling of numbness arises,” says the Greek designer, touching upon her prior background in chemistry. “We are accessible 24/7, new distractions reach us at any time like emails and pop-ups on our phones. This exposure affects us through stress, fatigue and sleeplessness, the inability to focus, and in our productivity,” she explains. To begin the creative process, Erato researched locations that trigger anxiety stimuli, and of these, urban streets and shopping malls ranked first. In conjunction, they produced a clear aesthetic for her collection – grey hues that emulate concrete cityscapes and garments fashioned from shredded carrier bags. “For the element of overload, I tried to look at all the unwanted, unread information, printed mostly on packaging that was surrounding me,” she says. This development, too, serves as a commentary on wastage and consumption of physical goods. In defiance, the designer approached secondhand stores for graphic print t-shirts, seeking the oldest that simply would not sell, before taking them home to be box-woven together, or embroidered with screenshots from her phone. Finding joy in upcycling, the designer also relished “giving up control” on the course, encouraging her creativity to develop organically and never through a linear vision.

Tania Marcela Garcia – Fashion Design

“This was the start of my spiritual awakening.” Tania Marcela Garcia had a divine intervention. It occurred after she deferred the first year of her MA course, returning home to Mexico City to heal as Covid-19 plagued the planet. Astral projections overtook her body, she could “see energy flowing in all directions” and felt an instant connection with her deepest, truest self. “I experienced time dissolutions and a complex feeling of being at the origin of the cosmos. I had never felt so much love and gratitude for being alive, for what the experience of life is,” says the designer, going on to tell of her ethereal pilgrimage to the Wirikuta desert. Harnessing senses through meditation, she began to create psychedelic ‘power plant’ sculptures and pottery as a therapeutic means to connect with primitive instinct. This translated into the floral motifs that stipple her garments; some as pendants strung across the stomach in reference to talismanic amulets. Her designs consider “energetic points” of the body – some with exoskeletons that outreach like an aura field – and Aztec decoration, seen in the plentiful feathers. “This collection portrays ritualistic, magic beings who are connected with the power of the universe. They live between realities, they are dreamlike and eat flowers,” she describes. Returning to IFM from a state of tranquillity took Tania weeks of adaptation. Her peers had completed pre-collections and the designer had little more than a few lumps of clay to propose. Citing friends as both her motivators and assistants – notably throwing a wig-making party to meet deadlines – she pushed on to completion. After seven years in fashion education, Tania feels her industry calling is one of Latin American representation: “In the near future I want to be able to talk more about my culture, my ideas of fantasy and beauty.”

Geun-Yeong Go – Fashion Design

Geun-Yeong Go had always held a fascination with the rockstar presence; their ability to command an audience, not least their sexual iconography. For her MA collection, she studied ‘90s mischief and roguery of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers. “My whole fashion journey is the process of going forward to the future but by looking back on past nostalgia, the good old days that everybody misses,” says the South Korean graduate. It’s seen in the bulging plush-toy cloak she sent down the runway, featuring Mickey Mouse for childhood’s sake, also the youthful neon hues and the rock logomania. Except there is something much more poignant below the playfulness. In January 2021, Geun-Yeong lost her father: “I kept thinking about the other side that we must reach when we die. There are a lot of guesses and expectations but we still have no idea because no one has the experience.” This project became a grieving acceptance of losing her dad, a vision with no bounds – so she removed it from our reality entirely. “To figure out life after death, I used the band as a mediator to explain it. Their weird behaviours and actions made me imagine that they might have come from another dimension. In the way we need a spacesuit to go to space, I thought that they would need special clothes to go back home.” Metallic, futuristic elements in the collection are a nod to this time-travel odyssey. The designer goes on to discuss the alienation she felt for a long time before IFM peers gave her the strength to press on. “I couldn’t have restarted my studies and kept working on my collection without all the help from the people who cared about me,” Geun-Yeong shares. Looking ahead, she aims to work at a high-end luxury brand as an advocate for sustainability – a path her father would undoubtedly be proud of.

Ibrahima Gueye – Fashion Design

Strength and courage are two qualities found in a lion as much as they are traits of black women in today’s livelihood. This is the comparison that Ibrahima Gueye makes through his MA collection, which has roots in his West African home of Senegal. It all began with childhood observation; seeing his mother at the market selecting vivacious fabrics for a special occasion or watching local seamstresses as they toiled away under the burning sun. “My family taught me how to look for the most within the least. To throw away something that could be repaired or reused was not an option,” says the designer, outlining his conscious principles. Narrating a local fable and cultural dance ceremony entitled Simb, the collection tells the story of a hunter who becomes spiritually possessed after fighting a lion. “How can I express possession through garments? How can I express virility and empowerment in a feminine perspective that is excluded from the legend?” questioned Ibrahima. His answer arose from the furniture designs of Malian artist Cheick Diallo that place emphasis on suspended and string-like structures. In Ibrahima’s final project, cut-out latticework and netted threads that constrict snakily up the bodice and around the neck share a similar tension while flattering the female form. Faux crocodile skins and contrasting textural trousers seize one’s attention in hot pinks and rich mustards. Producing such a technical range came with its professional benefits – Ibhrama learned how to liaise with factories, craft leather goods, and establish a sponsorship for trimmings. “The course was enriching, I feel more confident in my skills due to the quantity and quality of work that we had to provide,” he says. “Now that I’m leaving, I would like to sell accessories under my own brand called Jant, which means “Sun” in native Wolof.”

Anna Heim – Fashion Design

Anna Heim found a penchant for handicraft at the bottom of her grandmother’s crochet box. Upon receiving her first sewing machine as a gift, she would stitch costumes for plastic dolls and make self-taught alterations using her mother’s wardrobe. This proximity to the women in her family became a subliminal thread in her final collection, as “a poetic love letter to the female body. One that communicates a sense of acceptance of our fears and our desires – it’s about redefining sensuality in a way that does not want to please the male gaze,” the former MCQ intern explains. It began in the safe space of home, a place where getting dressed also meant escaping judgement. Diaphanous lingerie, that is, her torn mesh bustiers held up by fishnet panels and suspender clips, are a window into such privacy. Their tactile softness eases any discomfort, the black and blush palette is gently provocative. “The textures, the liquid latex dresses seem like a second skin and the hairy objects draw you closer, luring you in to feel them,” Anna adds. As she gathered materials, the designer stayed true to her sustainable morals and rummaged through deadstock storage units in warehouses all across Paris, turning eyelet tops into corsets or leather scraps into a jacket. Reflective of a family bond, “every piece was made with so much love and patience and that’s what the collection should convey as a feeling as well,” says the German designer, for whom intimate connection is the beating heart of her practice. “I loved that females really understood my topic and my pieces. But I also loved that the community at IFM had something special; so many people jumped in to help, so in the end, it was a relatively relaxed finale.” Anna wishes to collaborate further by restoring a past duo with fellow student, Jan Paul Klages, following a six-month internship at Acne Studios.

Judit Itarte – Fashion Design

What does satire look like? For Judit Itarte, it manifests as childlike overalls in primary colours overlaying a broad-shouldered business suit. Or in the paper grocery bag that’s actually, technically, cut from pinstriped shirt cloth. Her designs are a pendulum swinging from “surrealism to sarcasm” and back again. They reinvent the banal and thus, reinvigorate the imagination. “I was trying to find unusual forms which evoked behaviours that are uncommon for the eye. Garments that have unexpected structures, materials or placements,” says the Spanish designer, on her stark contrast between formality and sport. The intention is that both work in tandem to provide the wearer with an updated uniform of practicality, comfort, and safety. Whereas, visibly, they play on social synergy – mish-mashing workplace associations. “For this, I used the collage technique, a method very popular in surrealist art.” While Judit does not share a background in painting, she studied architecture for two years in high school but switched to fashion illustration when she was 16-years-old. Honing on form and function, her creative trajectory has led to an MA collection set on user-friendliness; garments that “take on an important role in contributing to a better living experience, to face our daily obstacles,” she says. As for obstacles on the course, Judit notes the great difficulty in sewing a single garment from a multitude of fabrics. Construction remains her primary interest and she is confident that any future learning she undertakes will build upon this area. “My goal for the future is to work in a team where I can research and be as close as possible to 3D-making.”

Shangrila Jarusiri – Fashion Design

“How I dress provokes them.” Parading down the runway in stripper heels, salacious latex and with a ball-gag handbag to clutch, Shangrila Jarusiri’s models look anything but innocent. Behind the bondage, however, her MA collection is a sincere study on identity; how it feels to exist on the peripherals of what society deems acceptable, a physical embodiment of taboo. In Thailand, her home, when conservative onlookers told Shangrila that she dressed “too sexy” it triggered an internal conflict that diminished her right to be an individual, for fear of harassment. This alternative interest began when she was a teenager, delving into underground subcultures such as punk rock and Japanese visual-kei music. “I grew up at a very strict school so fashion is something I only experienced on weekends; five days of trying to be a nice and polite student, then two days of being a punk girl with cute stockings,” says the designer, whose insecurities worsened as the pandemic hit. “Cat-calling seemed to always be my fault as what I wear is not deemed appropriate,” she continues. After an Agoraphobia diagnosis that meant Shangrila was scared to leave the house and face crowds, she took a year out from the course and started using her “work as a diary to collect feelings.” On her return, teachers helped Shangrila to “remember the joy of why [she loves] fashion all over again.” It kickstarted the process of piecing herself back together. As a result, her MA collection looks back to the helplessness she felt as that timid schoolgirl, and it reacts as a defence to judgement. “My collection talks about how something that looks so fragile – lace and lingerie – can also be strong and protective,” she says. “Also, I researched sex toy shapes and some studies about fetishism. How sexual activities translate onto fabric, how fashion is not for hiding everything but more for decoration of the body.” Shangrila hopes to spread positivity around decensored fashion by opening her own brand in the future.

Jan Paul Klages – Fashion Design

Jan Paul Klages tamed the wild spirit of womanhood. “In my collection, Hunting Prey, the women perceived as prey become the huntresses,” describes the designer, who hails from Hamburg, Germany. One day as a young boy, Jan Paul remembers seeing his aunt standing in a doorway, waist gloriously cinched by a blazer and in heels near-reaching the heavens. “I grew up with strong women that inspired me to define a modern goddess. She is strong and fierce, but not afraid to show her vulnerable side.” Despite a brand-laden resume, working at the likes of MCQ, where he met fellow student Anna Heim, VETEMENTS, and Botter, Jan Paul was primarily a sports professional. “Even without knowing anything about fashion, it was always important for me to stick out of the crowd or underline my character,” he says, highlighting music as another early pursuit.  Sheathed in black mesh, featuring spiked choker collars above vampiric shoulder pads and a leather jacket, his MA project may not be so far from the punk agenda. “For me, power comes through structure, shapes, and silhouettes. It’s the balance of being verbally dexterous and physically seductive to be in control,” he says. That feminine prowess first struck him in a scene within the film Basic Instinct, where Sharon Stone plays a criminal vixen, Catherine Tramell. The character uncrosses her legs in a police interrogation with brazen authority. “I have always been fascinated by these women who are aware of their impact, using the current state of society – being underestimated and being objectified – to get the upper hand.” It is a strength he hopes to imbue through his clothing. Leaving IFM, Jan Paul reflects on his learning experience: “I had such a nice time here in Paris. Our whole class became like a family – we supported and pushed each other and elevated our works.“ Currently, he is one week into a six-month internship at Y/Project, working under the esteemed Glenns Martens.“There is no Plan B beyond fashion. It fulfills me,” the graduate concludes.

Yaein Lee – Fashion Design

“I think fashion is a balance between art and commerciality and there’s no answer on which side it is biased towards,” observes South Korean designer, Yaein Lee, who similarly finds herself on a cultural axis. Looking at the duality of ancestral dress, her MA collection explores differences between her traditional grandmother and contemporary, architect mother. “They are two women that affected me in my identity, yet they are two completely different people in every aspect. My grandmother is also a designer and lives in the calm countryside, and wears Korean hanbok and mountaineering attire. On the other hand, my mother can only live in the city, in Paris, and always wears tailored suits and minimal clothes,” she says. Growing up, Yaein spent equal time between the two homes; recalling how she would draw spontaneous silhouettes as a hobby that eventually led to seamstressing and her acceptance into fashion school. She credits IFM for giving her the chance to uncover something deeply personal; the two halves that make her whole identity. Her collection is composed of sweeping capes, boots that fold and hug from behind the calf, drapes that bunch with a bungee cord, some in ornate florals, others slate grey or loud fuschia. “It was delicate and sensitive to work on, I enjoyed the whole process,” the designer muses. Seeing the course as closure, she aims to return to work. This time, with a newfound passion for everyday garments that anybody can enjoy: “I love to represent a person’s taste through clothing, it is the greatest reward.”

Cecilia Mari – Fashion Design

If Renaissance followed the Black Plague, then what supersedes our pandemic? Cecilia Mari explores cultural regeneration; art as a reaction to adversity. Creative curiosity rose from her Italian upbringing, where she excelled in classical studies and would pass time tinkering in her grandparents’ tailoring studio, “silently sneaking away spare fabrics to drape on their mannequins, surrounded by fabric rolls and mirrors,” she describes. “My passion for their craft was born with my love for drawing.” Going on to study at Central Saint Martins, Cecilia became immersed in moving images – specifically the work of directors Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant. It sparked a fervent interest in technology and sci-fi, setting the basis for her MA collection at IFM that “urges coexistence and contrasts between digitisation and human imperfection. A post-pandemic Renaissance where the human positively hacks the machine-made.” By definition, Renaissance refers to a revival or renewed interest in something. Making use of charity shop jersey t-shirts, Cecilia hand-slashed each garment – a historical method – to bolster individuality onto an otherwise ubiquitous and mass-produced object. Therefore, “framing the concept as literal garment rebirth,” she says, whilst also reusing pattern cutting paper, spliced from ‘70s newspapers that were boxed away in her grandparents’ studio. In keeping with 15th-century finishings, the designer dyed fabrics with rare ultramarine and porpora colour pigments and outsourced chain hardware, as inspired by the Renaissance paintings of Lucas Cranach, depicting the well-decorated heroine Lucretia. Cecilia paired dexterous weaving skills, taught by her sister, with virtual design software like CLO3D – which had inevitable glitches. From these, she draws comparisons to faults in contemporary humanity. However, on the course, Cecilia gained endless benefits and experience from others. “I also felt very lucky to be able to really use the time to indulge and play with drawing and draping freely following my instinct, which came after I set conceptual limits.” Patience, she says, was her greatest teaching: “My grandfather always used to say ‘to undo and remake is still working,’ to be grateful to where the mistakes might lead you.” Heading into a post-graduation unknown, Cecilia remains interested in collaborative creation and wishes to merge with “like-minded spirits” across art and music.

Sejin Park – Fashion Design

Existing as the tension between freedom and control, Sejin Park’s MA collection is a direct outcome of the pandemic. Straitjacket silhouettes force the wearer’s hands under pencil skirt waistlines, and oversized trousers swallow whole arms, sitting just below the bust. There are also the expected face masks – but this time, drawn over model’s heads into constrictive lace balaclavas. “Most people worked from home and had video conferences during Covid-19. It has changed our business wardrobe quite a bit; dressing up only in visible areas by wearing formalwear on the top half and comfortable clothes on the bottom,” says the designer. “I saw that formality as being ‘controlled’ whereas bodywear and comfortable clothes were like ‘freedom’ expressions,” he adds. Tainted by a dark, black palette, the clothing conveys an ominous, shadowlike mood. During his South Korean upbringing, Sejin remembers the defining moment when he made costumes, with friends, for a festival at high school. Running to a local bookstore, he bought a copy of Vogue Italia which cemented his dreams to become a fashion designer. By studying at IFM, he is ever-nearer to its realisation – hoping to work in Paris shortly. “The course taught me that it was important to believe in myself. As I repeatedly made decisions within a set timeframe, sometimes I questioned myself – whether what I was doing was right, but they were the best learning moments for me.”

Riccardo Russo – Fashion Design

“What if Cinderella went to a queer techno rave?” That’s the premise behind Italian graduate Riccardo Russo’s project, a glitzy vision that imbues the princess with feminist grit and feist for a modern age. “Cinderella is often depicted as a very demure tale – a woman who got saved by a prince – but in my vision, she finds the strength within herself to keep her mind clear and uses her kind spirit to keep living life serenely,” he explains. Highlighting the character’s ballroom escapade, Riccardo goes on to make comparisons to today’s queer scene that uses rave nights to, similarly, run from injustice and express themselves freely. “In the case of a queer person, they are discriminated against by society at large, as she is her stepmother,” adds the former Istituto Marangoni student. By fusing contemporary y2k cuts, rhinestones, and PVC with an “18th-century fête galante” look, the collection tested his technical finishings and historical understanding. “For this collection, I wanted to explore the universe of haute couture, a world that strongly talks about heritage and tradition. I was also much inspired by Mademoiselle de Beaumont who is the first transgender identity recorded during that time and Virgina Woolf’s book Orlando.” Through black fabrics, Riccardo captures both the melancholic plotline and the blackness of night, when secretive dances take place. In his collection, panels of pink flora were developed from period oil paintings, just as boned corsets reflect restrictions felt by the LGBTQ+ community right now. Overcoming perfectionism, the designer believes the course was a thoroughly enriching experience. Although, just as Cinderella’s evening ends at midnight, the sun is setting on Riccardo’s fashion education. Next, he looks to intern at a couture house and “be first in line to the actual making of the pieces.”

Rémy Wiener – Fashion Design

“I’ve always been an observer,” shares Rémy Wiener. Growing up in France, the designer refined a sharp eye for detail; noticing sartorial manifestations of attitude or the transformative power held by posture. ”I realised later, that the way people dress has much to say on who they are, the message they want to convey to others, to themselves, to society.” As such, his own message became one of familial honour, merging figurative memories and physical silhouettes to establish an image of his grandfather. These took on nuances from a typically masculine wardrobe; black satin tuxedos tailored into a dress but also rejected expectation through vibrant silk taffeta stripes and coral-like ruffles that stand out against rougher wool checks. “I unconsciously added some artifacts that no longer belong to reality. The flamboyant extravagance of [my grandfather as a] figure is contrasted with the austere and strict uniform of how you are supposed to be,” says the designer. Seeing clothes as comfort in a harsh world stung by the pandemic and political crises, the MA course was a chance for Rémy to consider his contributions to life. “It was the first time having to think about a collection not directly in terms of technique or volume, rather, asking myself what is my process? What do I have to say?” Entering the industry down a design pathway, he intends to amplify hope and optimism at every possible opportunity. “Many people think fashion is disconnected from reality but in recent years I’ve never felt so rooted in the real world. We as designers have the role to overcome these situations and keep on making people dream. Fashion is the experience of the instant, a representation of today’s and tomorrow’s society.”

Sophia Schwitzke – Fashion Design

Fluid nudity, rippling femininity. Sophia Schwitzke stirs confidence from sheer draping; her latex pours down the female form like a frozen river. Green net crochet with glittering beads emulates algae or a spattering of frogspawn. “I’m showing the body through the narrative of the modern-day water nymph and elements of the Grotesque,” she explains. Fascinated by a Lili Reynauld Dewar art film depicting a lady dancing in red paint, Sophia noted colour’s irrelevance within beauty. As such, her collection is awash with only subtle tones – a sky blue here, a wheat yellow there. From a young age, nature had always been intrinsic to the designer’s world. “I grew up in Germany, it was a mix of living on a farm and going to school in the city,” she says. Something that extends into her climate consciousness – designing with deadstock chiffons and yarns, also pink leather that’s a product of recycled fish food waste, and handmade latex that prevents any over-buying surplus. “The techniques and materials are a main starting point for me. I also begin by researching and collecting images to create a story and a mood,” Sophia adds, referring to John William Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs painting at the Manchester Art Gallery as a key artefact that was controversially removed from display. “This led me to use contradicting translucent materials as a second skin, I feel the most comfortable and confident in these. It is my goal to create materials that simultaneously cover and reveal the body.” As she signs off the final project, embarking on a role at Acne Studios, Sophia feels she has acquired additional confidence from her studies at IFM: “There were challenging, intense times and also very rewarding moments. What I learned was definitely how to edit down, to talk to friends about everything, and at the end of the day to listen to what you want to do and trust your instincts.”

Kalana Silva – Fashion Design

School blazers bought two sizes too big – that parents are adamant you’ll grow into – art class aprons splashed with primary colours, and jaggedy hems, torn from rough-and-tumble playtime: these are Kalana Silva’s infantile charms. “With my collection ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’, I am trying to explore a child’s mind and reconnect with my younger self,” he explains. “This is an attempt to build a utopian world where every infant can live and play in comfort and safety. I feel that as we grow older, the fast and busy world moulds us into being tougher, and as a result, our inner youth slowly fades away,” the designer continues. ”I feel that we must protect innocence and learn from it.” When he was a little boy, Kalana didn’t know where he belonged. In high school, the designer first pursued a science background, then dabbled in fine art and animation. “Often my father used to recall these fascinating stories about my grandfather’s tailoring shop and how they used to work there. I think this encouraged me, from then I wanted to explore the world of fashion design.” Studying at IFM has allowed Kalana to build on the family tradition and simultaneously foster personal growth – using memory and psychology to define his playful design vocabulary. “The main challenge was to balance everything that was going on around me, however, the pace of the degree taught me how to keep myself calm, make quick decisions and overcome unwanted surprises,” he says. Brought up between two countries exposed the designer to artisanal techniques, and as much as Kalana still relishes his tailoring roots, his future goals lie in a couture domain. “Craftsmanship is deeply involved in the work I make, so I would like to keep exploring this universe.”

Maria Siqueira – Fashion Design

Sentimentality is the narrative thread in Maria Siqueira’s final collection. It strings “nostalgia and the modern world together harmoniously,” paying homage to the designer’s Portuguese heritage through blue stencil prints that tap into tiled wall patterns, and waist-puffing cartridge pleats as an ode to the seven-layer skirts worn by Nazaré women. “The ‘Neostalgia’ collection is an exploration of myself,” shares Maria, who points to retrospective photographer Artur Pastor as a secondary influence. “It’s the excitement in cherishing and romanticising the old. Merging hand-crafted techniques with a modern approach to technology.” With no knowledge of 3D-printing, but a burning desire to learn, the designer became acquainted with a trial-and-error approach to work. “After hours of printing, I would regularly find a spaghetti-like mess on the print bed. I approached everything as a problem-solving puzzle – it was my logical side speaking,” she says. Before her foray into IFM fashion design, Maria undertook a one-year programme in Sweden, majoring in social entrepreneurship and sustainability. It was here that she crafted her first upcycled garments, having never held a needle before this. Initially, the designer worked on male forms before slanting towards the shapes in traditional female dress for their flouncing volume. “I was often questioned about the fact that I was putting skirts on men and asked why I didn’t design for women. It wasn’t a question to be asked: I didn’t feel that gender-based archetypes should stop my creativity.” Maria owes IFM, namely its liberating environment, for the chance to express herself fully: “I feel much more confident as a young designer. I became more aware of the industry as a whole and continually explored my identity.”

Delia Wade – Fashion Design
Star-spangled hosiery, party hats poking precariously from dresses, and an XXL bow bolero all play a leading role in Delia Wade’s ‘Theater of Angst’ graduate collection. “It’s about coming of age in the American south – where manners and etiquette reigned supreme, cotillion was mandatory, and being a debutante was a long-awaited rite of passage,” she explains. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the designer fell into fashion by chance following a French exchange programme at her high school. Years later, she would return to Paris for her IFM studies that toy with theatricality and the loss of local custom to globalised conformity. “It started as an ambivalent vision between critique and fascination; exploring manners and rebelling against them,” she continues. In parodic fashion, Delia created ballooning Balenciaga silhouettes from trash bags and duvets “for a more disruptive and contemporary palette,” that dismantles dated social order. Airplane neck cushions and giant, hyperbolic stole collars establish visual drama in part due to proportion but also the clash-happy surface design, from tweed and brocade to jutting feathers and confetti appliqué. “The extravagant potential is a new glamour that symbolises our need for aspirations and freedom,” says Delia, recalling that fitting experiments were the most fun. “Blowing up size added a sense of ridiculousness.” As curtains draw on her time as a student, she hopes to find employment in a couture house – though it’s clear she’ll sprinkle pizazz and neo-glamour wherever she heads.

Boya Wen – Fashion Design

Rendered in kaleidoscopic patterns, the ‘Queendom’ led by Chinese designer Boya Wen is a collection impossible to miss. Holographic panels droop from the shoulder like peculiar fins, bodysuits explode in reckless rainbow neons and there’s a rug-tuft gown that laps the floor, emblazoned with raging flame motifs. Upon reading an ancient novel, Journey to the West, the graduate was compelled by an elusive female tribe living along the Silk Road. “I wanted to picture those empowered, ambitious female warriors,” she says, pairing traditional puff-sleeved attire from Uyghur and Kazakh with specular y2k details to forge uniforms for a feminist army. Coming from a sparsely-populated desert city, it may be a surprise to find that Boya once studied financial engineering. “Instead of learning economic theories on paper, I’d rather interact with today’s world; be more present for girls of my generation.” Certain that the most flattering silhouettes have already been invented, Boya always saw fabric as her starting point since “each and every one of them tells a Central Asian story.” One example, the mustard yarn knit was pulled from native Suzani carpet craft. It’s why textile development turned into an immense skill test at IFM, on a course that she enjoyed thoroughly. “Basically, all of my fabrics are innovative and it’s uncommon to turn them into clothes,” she explains. For the shiny TPU material, Boya first struggled to find a manufacturer, later running into cost issues which ended in compromise – matching up small 40cm by 60cm segments instead of purchasing a whole sheet. Her tenacity will remain invaluable as she leaves education to seek “a front row seat in the upcoming fabric revolution.”

Lijie Zhao – Fashion Design

One night, the stars aligned for Lijie Zhao. The ethos behind her ‘Countless Me in Countless Universes’ collection came at once from infinite parallels; in outer space, motion, and mathematical experimentation. “I also took the idea of mixing dream and reality from the film Paprika by Satoshi Kon and combined it with the hypothesis of multiple universes in quantum mechanics and the phenomenon of infinite cycles of particle movements,” explains the Chinese designer, who resided for a while in France as a linguistics student. Her concept pulls on paradoxes such as Schrödinger’s Cat and the Möbius ring which translate, in clothing, to shapes that blur inside-outside distinction as well as feline jacquards. By using a continuous bolt of fabric, Lijie also made reference to endless loops in the line of infinite motion – yet her origins in fashion design are much more simplistic. Like many young girls, she would dream up costumes for her plastic dolls; sewing ensembles for them with found cloth at home. Preferring to work by hand, the designer makes supernatural imagination a tangible reality. At IFM, Lijie has enjoyed design revision, tweaking her tufting and crystal yarn specialisms with valuable input from tutors. “The best moment for me was the day of the video shoot. It was very rewarding to see the models walking the runway, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see my own designs on the human body,” she says. Beyond graduation, the designer will travel home – where she already owns a studio and brand with her friend – hoping to skyrocket to success.

Maurycy Zylber – Fashion Design

Punctuated with “dad nuances,” Maurycy Zylber built his project to be a demolition of rough manliness. It subverts the shirt and tie into camp abandon; lace-groined slack trousers, frills, polo shirts with pectoral peepholes, motorbike leather in the shape of bikini line briefs. “It started at the intersection of two pairs of opposites. One is masculine and feminine and the second gay and straight. What interested me is how we are perceived and how garments are associated with traditional gender orientation,” says the graduate. During his Polish childhood, Maurycy witnessed religious constraint and found that it narrowed his idea of masculinity substantially. The son of a classically-trained painter, Maurycy’s mother later worked in costume design for TV and film, where he would accompany her on warehouse visits – pulling out and marvelling at vintage attire from dusty storage boxes. As a teenager, he considered studying art history before enrolling in the fashion department at IFM. Here, igniting a reaction to heteronormativity “with a big dose of fun and lightheartedness to show its deflation as an entrance into polar opposite worlds.” His MA process was set on personal evolution as much as technical; retraining the mind to stay wide open to possibility and embrace unexpected outcomes. “I guess the main difficulty was to trust the creative process and not to get too stuck on your pre-expected idea of how the collection will look. The best thing was the camaraderie of fellow classmates,” muses Maurycy. After interning for six months, the designer will reevaluate his position in the industry. “I am open to anything that may come my way, but being your own boss is always tempting.”

Lou Comte – Knitwear Design

Stretching into the nexus of movement and resilience, Lou Comte weaves her knitwear from a background in rhythmic gymnastics. “I always had a fascination for dance and the emotions that it brings to people. I grew up in rhinestones and leotards – my mom would be sewing them together in the living room,” says the French designer, having competed for almost 13 years. Being so attuned to the body, she is able to create a visible conversation through curves; freezing movement lines within knitted patterns and in sinuous strings that spiral around the models’ limbs. Looking to choreographer Ohad Naharin for these moments of stillness, she created her own dance “between programming knitting, placing on the mannequin, correcting and repeating the process over and over again to find the right place and dimensions.” Impressed by IFM’s range of machinery and savoir-faire, Lou felt that her creativity was fulfilled by the technical skills she acquired, even in the face of self-doubt: “Since I never stepped back from my studies and did everything in one go, I felt like my identity as a designer was still incomplete at times, so the course was a lesson in affirmation.” As a woman, she explored further introspection – considering how the female form can be exposed for pleasure and confidence. Pale, off-white, sheer illusions; her garments act as a “second skin that contributes to a feeling of togetherness,” much like a Pas de Deux between a body and its motions. Going forward, Lou moves into the industry with rational expectations. “I believe the reality of fashion is much different from the liberty we have in fashion school. Before starting my own knitwear company, I need to understand more about how it all works from the inside.”

Lucile Guehl – Knitwear Design

Lucile Guehl’s knitwear collection is for the renegades and the restless women who wish to run from patriarchal norms; towards sun-soaked wildflower meadows with their hair flowing free. “They’re going back to nature, to re-build their group based on sorority,” she says. Awarded an IFM-Kering Fashion Sustainability Certificate last year, the French designer maintains that “garments must be adequate with both the universe [she creates] and our direct ecological environment.” In a different era entirely, her project harks back to Victoriana through gauzy petticoats and bloomers that capture the innocence and fragility of womankind. “I developed pureness in extra-fine textiles – laces, and some yarns that are a transparent steel and cotton blend. It was so breakable that I had to knit with a soluble base made from starch,” she explains. In terms of aesthetic direction, it was the Peter Weir film Picnic at Hanging Rock that urged Lucile to unpick archetypes of timid, angelic women in white. “I’m telling the story of their long journey to independence and autonomy. The process of getting back to nature is messy, so I designed pieces with unattached frills and falling trims as the result of living in an inadequate environment, outside society,” Lucile adds. To offset the elegance, 21st-century normcore was introduced in wool-felted brown and orange stripe cardigans, as inspired by Justine Kurtland’s photo series Girl’s Pictures. Practical and insulating, they would suit a life outdoors. “Natural fibers like wool and upcycled pieces are used to express this but are also coherent with the sustainable changes fashion must go through,” says the designer. Time at IFM has wrought Lucile’s love for articulate storytelling and the emotive capabilities of styling. “I truly enjoyed working with fitting models because you get to know how a real person – and not a mannequin – feels in your clothes. It makes me so happy.” Leaving education, Lucile is prepared to soar freely amongst fashion. “I know I particularly enjoy working in a creative team, developing conceptual ideas – though I’m sure I still have a lot to discover.”

Tatjana Haupt – Knitwear Design

“We need to talk more about women’s genitalia.” Tatjana Haupt and her kitschy feminist knitwear are no strangers to provocation. “My MA collection is a celebratory homage to my grandmother who was a typical, subordinate housewife, and my punk mother who was a pioneer in the male-dominated world of IT. Together they taught me the importance of being oneself and standing up for women’s rights,” the designer, from Southern Germany, explains. One jacquard pasted across a jumper bust reads ‘girls masturbate too’ in bellowing upper case, there’s a saturation of raspberry pinks and purples, furry underwear to insinuate pubic hair and labial wool patterns. Prior to IFM, Tatjana spent much of her lockdown connected to crochet hooks – having shared initial career interests in language and graphic design. “During Covid-19, I learned the lesson that my body and mind are priorities over everything,” she says. Upon completing a placement at Charles Jeffrey Loverboy in London, the designer realised that her strength lies in “creating irritations” through textile manipulation. Finding political relief in the subversion process, she unravels the power of folklore and traditional handicraft by using wool as weaponry in her fight for women’s rights. It was something that she continually nurtured during the course. “The class was a safe space where we tried to support each other and spoke openly about our feelings. I appreciate that open communication a lot.” Love and community essence are deeply interwoven in her practice, yet, beyond a big heart, Tatjana has an equally thick skin for the industry ahead of her – where she will soon work for KENZO knitwear. “I think I belong in a leadership position. I’m too bossy, stubborn, and strong for anything else.  My main motivation is to spread more happiness in these grey days and remind people that we all have to be feminists!”

Guillemette Jozan – Knitwear Design

When we sleep, our bodies enter a comatose abyss, detaching from all social tethers to float in a freedom dream. That’s what French designer Guillemette Jozan envisions for her pyjama-heavy collection. “In the history of fashion, daywear has always been very gendered, but nightwear was unisex,” she says. “I wanted to focus on a moment when we are no longer in a role of representation. At night we are completely disconnected, our unconscious takes over, we find ourselves liberated.” Such fuzzy delusion is expressed in soft wool sleeves that are so enveloping that the wearer appears to be lost inside, “like a child who has woken up after a nightmare,” adds the graduate. When she was little, Guillemette wanted to be either a stylist or a sheep-counting shepherdess – leaning further to the former. “In primary school, I took sewing lessons for three years. I liked to make clothes for myself and for my brothers and sisters.” Spending time with family during the pandemic opened her eyes to the possibilities in loungewear and how it so easily adapted to daily life. She notes a memorable fact, that “many women had adopted the practice of wearing no bras after developing the habit for several months,” which led to movement investigations, recording different positions bodies take at rest, away from public view. “I didn’t want to hide the body but rather to lay it bare, without artifice, captured in a moment of abandonment, of vulnerability,” she says. To emulate this, transparent panelling was integrated into her knits, then overlaid by nude sketch-like figures. Production had its troubles, in particular the length of time it took to make a garment – requiring the studio Stoll machines to be launched overnight. “Then, there is always an element of chance because even if you calculate everything, the knit can expand and all your fabric panels lengthen by several centimeters,” Guillemette advises. Recently, she was accepted into an internship programme at Hermès and feels “very happy to have the opportunity to work for such a beautiful fashion house.”

Man Hei (Carrie) Keung – Knitwear Design

Addressing anti-Asian hate head-on, China-born Carrie Keung converged racist experiences directed at herself and her friends with street harassment seen in the news. “My clothing commands the audience to reflect on how much they perceive what they see, and suggests that they could understand more by looking closer, just as they would understand more about different races by interacting and communicating with them,” she says. In the way that cultures are complex and multidimensional, Carrie’s knitwear is comparable. Her research began with bones and skeletons that strip away judgement on skin colour as a neutral, unbiased foundation. “The contrast and coexistence of their rigidity and the fluidity of my draped fabrics are emphasised in the design,” she highlights, knitting together laser-cut leather dyed with vegetables, as well as silicone. Expanding on globalisation, traditional dress became a secondary influence for the designer in order to understand a spectrum of cultural backgrounds and thus, bring awareness to wider racism. “One time I was in a leather shop in Paris and the owner told me ‘today the shop is not open for Asian people.’ I asked him very seriously why then he laughed and said it was just a joke. It was a shocking experience,” Carrie recalls. However, she found open-armed acceptance at IFM, supporting her peers through similar scenarios: “I admire and am proud of how brave these girls – and myself – are. “ To that end, her collection is best seen as a feminine shield; “presenting a brave figure that stands against the social problem,” that will serve as protection when she soon enters the industry as a professional.

Ambra Meineri – Knitwear Design

Polaroids to pixels, albums to algorithms – Ambra Meineri is tracking our virtual consciousness. “The way we keep memories has changed, we make everything digital. Before we used to print more photographs, collect them, my parents used to write letters – I think we are losing all this materiality and also a bit of romanticism,” she observes. Visibly glitched, her collection is the outcome of Photoshop experiments that saw family pictures obscured in a way similar to Diane Meyer’s cube-centric artwork. “I think there is a connection between forgetting and file corruption. After realising that, I tried to find a way to represent pixels in my knitwear,” the French designer adds, spending much of her free time conducting analogue research in exhibitions and museums. In Ambra’s MA project, technology hacks into streetwear – monastic, oversized hoodies stand next to square-patterned suiting and a knit dress that brings to mind a green-on-black coding colour palette. ”I loved working on this collection from the very first day. I felt really into my concept because I’m a bit chronophobic and the concept of time and memories is close to me but I’m also a bit scared by it all,” she says. “The most challenging part has been accepting that you may have to change your ideas because something is not working to expectations.” In that same vein, Ambra’s plans for the future are just as commutable: “I’m interested, of course, in knitwear but also in menswear and sportswear. I would like to work in a luxury brand to see from inside how it works in reality but life is weird and I’m not in the position to make long-distance plans.”

Isabella Snelson – Knitwear Design

Isabella Snelson hung up her dance shoes at age 17 when impeded by an injury. Her body could no longer create art but her mind was able to. “I would say that as a designer I am very much a product of my background; there is a familiarity to the body that is automatic to me,” says the Australian native, hailing from Sydney. At home, she was once employed by a local haberdashery shop, Tessuti Fabrics, where a family friend taught her the groundwork of textile design. It evolved into an earnest adoration for knitwear and later, enrolment at IFM. “My collection is a response to the continuum between masculinity and femininity,” she says.  “It is upheld with dualities – strength and structures against softness and vulnerability.” Touching, too, on a reveal-conceal contrast, her peekaboo designs ignite “an imagination of preconceived notions on what the body underneath is.” Tinted by earthy tones, each look is borne from its own distinct tactility: knits that run vertically like skewed ladders and hole-tattered tree bark or a skirt with dew-like diamantes hanging from the hem. One commonality is the cut out, which “provokes sensuality and movement,” as a window to the folds and contours of the female form. “As dancers, we were able to move how we did because of the lack of clothing,” Isabella adds. Hence, her choice to expose skin was more aligned with practicality than any attempt at seduction. “Through the collection, I present femininity through my own gaze, I show that it can exist separate from the physical body.” During its assembly, the designer found immense joy in the company and conversations had with peers. “On the last day of filming the show, we were all exhausted at the end of this mammoth effort. We all stood together at the monitor watching – I couldn’t help but feel quite sentimental,” Isabella recalls, going on to feel pride for what she has overcome. “I left Australia not knowing when I would be able to go back due to the pandemic. I was in a foreign country without my circle and environment, so I’ve learnt that ultimately we rely the heaviest on ourselves.” Exiting education after eight years, Isabella is eager to revisit her homeland and enter work life with a certainty that her “passion for textiles will never die.”

Maria Streang – Knitwear Design

“Forest monsters, fairytales, and grandma’s ethereal craftwork,” make for a whimsical wardrobe. As a little girl, knit designer Maria Streang used to speed home from school, flop back onto her bed, and stare at the ceiling – transported to a land of blissful daydreams. “I would spend hours thinking about colours, patterns, and magical worlds,” she says. Mysticism melts into her MA project, which calls to the Romanian countryside where Maria grew up and also “tells a story of resilience against a xenophobic narrative; mapping a journey of becoming and acceptance of oneself.” Moving to Bournemouth during Brexit, then spending time working at Molly Goddard in London, the designer was exposed to social disconnect for the first time living as a foreign visitor. Conversely, she found a tight community in the underground British clubbing scene. “It’s an environment where I was accepted and made to feel greater than the sum of my parts,” she beams. This juxtaposition between nature and urban nightlife form the core of both her personal and design identities. The latter, a rural carnival: wool fibres are woven into colossal, Dr Seuss-esque scarecrow hats, while ribbonry interlocks with chains as an innovative jumper textile, all lashed by carrot orange, fern and magenta hues. “My experience of working on the collection was intense, and it took a while to get myself organised and clear-minded, but once I did, it was a walk in the park,” says Maria, reflecting on her tuition at IFM. “The feedback and guidance were a blessing but it is fundamental to learn how to select the most relevant from all the white noise. Also, I think it is important to trust yourself and to do your best.” Grateful for the environment and friends she has made, Maria leaves with a role awaiting her at Paco Robanne. “I absolutely love the brand. In the long term, I would like to have my own studio designing and making clothes, furniture, jewellery, and many more things.” We’ll be here to watch her blossom.