Fashion Design
MARIA CZARNECKA
Warsaw, Poland
Currently, I am a student of Fashion Design Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. I presented my designs during the final year show of the Fashion Design Department (2021). In 2021, I was awarded with first place in the international tattoo design competition ‘Itsy-bitsy CANCER … leaves you with a SCAR’ (2021). My work has been exhibited in group exhibitions: the final year exhibitions of the Fashion Design Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2020, 2021); the exhibition “8 day of the week” presented at Autonomia Gallery in Warsaw (2018) and the exhibition “Identity” presented at Autonomia Gallery in Warsaw (2017). In addition to my design work, I am involved in environmental activities in the field of fashion. Since 2021, I have been a member of the editorial board of Now Eco, where I create articles addressing sustainability and ecology in fashion.
My collection “ME-YOU-THE OTHER” reflects on our approach to strangeness. How do we behave when we encounter something completely unknown – be it another person or a new phenomenon? A big inspiration for me was the movie “Solaris”, which is about space expedition. The story shows how people cannot cope with the otherness they encounter in space. The protagonists, mainly scientists, suddenly become very vulnerable. It turns out that the most important thing for them is not progress but contact with loved ones, nature on earth, the simplest human feelings. Driven by emotions and longings, they abandon their scientific ambitions.
Technique: starch, crochet
Materials: tweed, chiffon, tulle, nylon, jersey
NOMMADDICTED
Krakow, Poland
Magdalena Pupczyk graduate of the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. Awarded the One Asia Foundation scholarship 2017-main prize in the sculpture category. Finalist of the Fashion Designer Awards 2020 and OFF FASHION 2021, she works in painting, sculpture, illustration and design, including experimental design. The works, which are a combination of unconventional materials and techniques, address issues of life’s journey, transience, the meaning of existence and the self-awareness of the individual. At the same time, they answer the question of the boundaries of art versus utility in the world of design.
The collection for the fall/winter season includes items such as down, insulated jackets, dresses, oversize coats made of fur. The intensity of colors and their non-standard juxtaposition are among the distinguishing features of this collection. The same is true of the types of fabrics, whose different, seemingly at times even exclusionary character, creates a coherent whole as a result. Artificial fur, leather, orthalion, quilting, all fabrics create picturesque landscapes on the surface of individual assortments. The overall patchwork specificity of the collection alludes to the increasingly thriving trend known as repurposing. Handmade soles play a key function in the overall character of the collection. The technology for making the soles involved the use of Clear Flex 95 resin, which is a flexible polyurethane whose low viscosity made precise casting possible. The aforementioned feature of this material, combined with So-Strong coloring pigments, contributed to the painterly effects and natural, even penetration of colors, as well as the possibility of creating smooth tonal transitions. The filling of the soles is a construction of cork board and organic elements, such as tree bark or small shards of raw wood. The whole is enclosed in a simple, somewhat rounded form.
PAWEL KAŹMIEROWSKI
Lodz, Poland
I am a designer of fashion, footwear and accessories and I handmade my collection. I have just graduated in Fashion Design. At present I am student of graphic design and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz.
ARTWORK:
In my collection, I deconstruct the existing gender constructs. I take the attributes “masculine men” have appropriated and combine them with feminine elements. As a result, my projects do not have a single gender. When we observe reality taking into account currently prevailing social norms, we experience dissonance. We see garments that seem to be feminine, but the used forms based on exaggerated musculature are definitely associated with masculinity. We find it difficult to categorize the view we observe. My goal is to show that we do not have to persistently conform to binary categories and that we should not be afraid of our individual gender expression. Gender identity should be an individual matter that only we can define and only when we feel that there is a need for that.
To create my projects, I used natural and synthetic leather, fabrics with original prints, original knitted fabrics, wadding, epoxy resin.
DAZZLE ZEXIAN LIU
Antwerp, Belgium
INTRO:
I am from Guangdong Province in mainland China.
I am mainly involved in design.
I like the shaping of structure and the effect of integrating different materials. The feeling of ambivalence attracts me a lot. As a designer, I want to express the diversity of the presentation of clothes.
I am fascinated by the clothing style of the 17th-18th century. I tend to combine three-dimensional elements with the flat cut technique.
This is a reflection of my understanding of my culture.
Aesthetics changes with the development of the times. In fact, we are more or less involved in changing the popular part. The way we dress every day has an impact on the world. Clothing, as a daily part that cannot be ignored, it carries more meaning than we thought. I want to create clothes with vitality, to improve the sustainable lifestyle of living.
ARTWORK:
My concept is about the uncertainty of human identity. Social labels control who we are and who we think we should be.
Different jobs correspond to different uniforms, which become representative of certain social roles. We are used to choosing clothes according to different needs, but I believe that when we wear clothes we should be more concerned with a dialogue with ourselves.
I want to challenge wearers’ everyday dress concepts and awaken new trajectories of action, as well as make institutionalised dressing habits more fun. That is why I design interactive clothes, which make dressing more like an experience. With my designs, it is possible to wear them in multiple ways and combine them in unexpected ways.
With regard to the materials used, in addition to focusing on the deconstruction of the clothes, I also focus on the design of the prints. These prints will be used as a visual language for the clothes.
For this reason, I mainly use fabrics that can be printed and produced digitally, combined with monochrome fabrics with a relatively simple structure.
My print design is about the hybrid of artificial landscape and natural environment. They are abstract but partially recognisable images.
KOVALOWE
Rzeszow, Poland
INTRO:
KOVALOWE is a brand created by a sister duo. Our brand has been present on the market for 3 years, it dynamically enters the Polish and European market. KOVALOWE collections were presented at numerous fashion events in Poland and in Europe during the Fashion Week in Paris, Berlin, Milan and Rome. The brand has won numerous awards and distinctions:
The 3 photos and 3 sketches show our collection “Crystal” from this year. The collection is presented in the video on YouTube. The Crystal collection presents a strong female figure through a strong color accent and avant-garde design. The message of the collection is a return to an active life, full of joy, hope and optimism. The crystal fabric shows a glow that is synonymous with the beauty of a woman and her uniqueness. The colors in shades of white, gray in combination with intense cobalt and fuchsia, gave the sublime, elegant character of the collection. KOVALOWE brand presented an innovative pleating technique – dorsal pleats in pink and cobalt. The use of pleats and silk gave airiness, while velvet ennobled the collection. The “CRYSTAL” collection shows KOVAL’s tailoring craftsmanship and its own view of fashion.
CHAT
Krakow, Poland
Gabriela Chat, professional dreamer and hardworking realist. Fashion Designer and Clothing Technology Technician. Graduate of Cracow Art School, Fashion Design.
“RAVENS” as it says, was inspired by ravens. They have rich symbolism and they are strongly rooted in culture. All of the silhouettes are the combination of delicacy and uniqueness, and the amazing power of person who wears them. It’s the contrast between fragile chiffon and simple, shiny eco leather. Collection was handmade which include original structures and embroidery. I was using satins, chiffons, boucle textiles, tulles and eco-leathers. In the collection you can also see exceptional head covers and accessories made from scratches.
SANDRA SZELIGA
Krakow, Poland
Fashion takes my entire life and is my greatest passion
KAROLINA BOROWSKA
Szczecin, Poland
I am a fashion designer who loves eclectic solutions and work with colour.
At present, I am a second-year student at the Fashion Design Department of the Academy of Art in Szczecin.
Currently, I focus on my artistic and design development in clothing and shoes.
Fear of Desire is a unisex collection completed in the second year of study in the Laboratory of Design at the Academy of Art in Szczecin.
My project based on analysis of my strengths and weaknesses. With the collection, there are terms such as: oversize, eclecticism, subtleness, sexualization, imperfection, working with the texture of the material.
It is a zero waste collection. Materials which I used in the collection come partially from second-hand, dead stock or also cabinets of friends and family.
To get the individual character of the collection, I decided to colour the fabrics and then discolor them. In the Fear of Desire collection, I have also applied dropping tulle. The other types of fabrics I have used are: wool, cotton, jersey and polyester.
ANDREEA CALDARUS
Bucharest, Romania
INTRO:
ACG brings to the fore a personal perspective on commercial outerwear pieces, through methods that seek to get out of the classic production process. Volumetry, practicability, modularity are defining notions for the essence of the brand.
ACG showcases readaptations of different movements or concepts from the fashion world through techniques that gives the garments unicity.
ARTWORK:
The concept of the NUUM collection is based on a readaptation or a reinterpretation of the notion of continuity in fashion, through a current method, cuts in the basic pattern. Continuity in this collection is not given by the complete elimination of the seams, but by their replacement. Therefore the garments are no longer formed from the front and back when it is made, but from a unitary whole. The idea of continuity has been achieved through a certain technique that gives the garment parts that do not have a beginning or an end. I called this method “puzzle technique” because the process begins with a basic pattern that is sectioned according to the design of the lines specific to each item of clothing.The result of this technique is similar to a puzzle because each piece matches the adjacent pieces, creating a relationship of interdependence.The puffers from the Nuum Collection weren’t made by quilting, but by individual voluminous shapes. The final materials are: waterproof beige nylon with matte look, slightly elastic black eco-leather, thin black nylon with semi-gloss look, beige eco-leather with elastane, elastic black knit and beige wool knit.
ACG brings to the fore a personal perspective on commercial outerwear pieces, through methods that seek to get out of the classic production process. Volumetry, practicability, modularity are defining notions for the essence of the brand.
ACG showcases readaptations of different movements or concepts from the fashion world through techniques that gives the garments unicity.
The concept of the NUUM collection is based on a readaptation or a reinterpretation of the notion of continuity in fashion, through a current method, cuts in the basic pattern. Continuity in this collection is not given by the complete elimination of the seams, but by their replacement. Therefore the garments are no longer formed from the front and back when it is made, but from a unitary whole. The idea of continuity has been achieved through a certain technique that gives the garment parts that do not have a beginning or an end. I called this method “puzzle technique” because the process begins with a basic pattern that is sectioned according to the design of the lines specific to each item of clothing.The result of this technique is similar to a puzzle because each piece matches the adjacent pieces, creating a relationship of interdependence.The puffers from the Nuum Collection weren’t made by quilting, but by individual voluminous shapes. The final materials are: waterproof beige nylon with matte look, slightly elastic black eco-leather, thin black nylon with semi-gloss look, beige eco-leather with elastane, elastic black knit and beige wool knit.
JULIA WILKOWICZ
Lublin, Poland
Beginner clothes designer and graphic designer. A graduate of the International School Costume and Fashion Design in Warsaw. Finalist of the OFF FASHION competition. Passionate about creating new forms of clothing and prints. During her first-cycle studies in specialization – Organization of Media Production, she worked in Lublin cultural institutions. A supporter of slow-fashion. Her BA thesis was devoted to this subject.
Most of the collection is made of twill cotton. Velor was used to make 3D embroidery. Additionally, the collection uses tulle, canvas and tablecloth fabrics.
