“I’m rather shy and quiet and in social situations I want to disappear most of the time. (laughs) So instead of looking at that as a negative it became the initial inspiration for my Master’s collection. I thought it would be nice to make my models disappear, in a way and I started looking at the way battle ships during WWI & WWII were camouflaged with abstract patterns to dazzle the oponent. When you looked at the ships through a periscope, you couldn’t tell which way it was going. Other inspirations included quilts by Susana Hunter, a simple farmer woman from Alabama. Between the 1930 and 1970 she created beautiful, improvised patterns with material at hand. I find them very beautiful so I decided to use a lot of bold prints that have a retro, nostalgic feeling. Also, it was important for me to create a romantic but at the same time cheeky and sexy vibe, like the one seen in 70s male erotica, which I translated into soft draped shapes with a lot of flow. What I want to achieve with this collection is a really fluid line and abstract entity, so that when you see it in its entirety you don’t know what is what.”

I see David Bowie served as an inspiration as well?

“Not literally, at first I was looking at Bowie in the 70s, but then that went way into the background. Although, I did design these huge Oxford bags, so I think somewhere in the back of my head, those forgotten inspirations may have lingered.”

It’s normal that early sparks morph into something unrecognisable from the initial thought.

“The idea of social awkwardness disappeared somewhere along the way. It became mainly about the attitude and feeling of the collection. My work relies a lot on atmosphere, so it’s not ‘loud’ necessarily. I’ve always tried to make big and crazy things, but it never worked for me.”

THANKS TO:

My family for always supporting me. Domi, Ania, Ogi, Julia, Aldona, Kiko and Zlatimir for their help. Stefan and all my classmates for being awesome. All the teachers and Dirk, Heidi and Manon for the most fun year.
And last but not least – Ania for believing in me and helping me to make this whole thing happen and Tomek for his patience, endless support and love.

EXPO 2018