photos: Michael Wittig
In a time where fashion needs to be fast, easy and sellable it’s a pretty ballsy move from the ESMOD School of Design to push their students to such eccentric and conceptual collections. Many other design school have resorted to a more market-oriented design philosophy which I can totally understand, but it’s really sad because it kind of kills the idea that fashion should be inspiring and innovative. If you just follow the pressure of the market you are not really being inspiring or innovative at all.
When I look at the new collections of the graduates from ESMOD I see only creativity, wild ideas and big dreams. This is why I enjoy the ESMOD shows more and more each year because they are such a source of entertainment and inspiration for me. What I also appreciate is the level of sophistication that has improved significantly each year. I know the school is really tough and demanding on their students, but the results are excellent. Let’s have a look at some of my favorite collections (which are almost all of them that were shown this past Saturday) and see if we can find the next Marina Hoermanseder in there somewhere.
Laura Lang
Laura Lang presented the most impressive shapes of all the collections. These types of silhouettes are so easily done in sketches, but to make them look good in a real garment requires a very high level of craftmanship. And her pieces looked simply stunning and the combination of the detailed ornament print and the black and white fabrics was simply beautiful.
Birute Mazeikaite
Talking about interesting silhouettes: Birute Mazeikaite also delivered some of those combined with some really cool textures and patterns. Impressive!
Maximilian Kattwinkel
Clear PVC and pleather in a futuristic sci-fi aesthetic mixed with some elements of sportswear and a good portion of crazy make the menswear collection of Maximilian Kattwinkel.
Florina Marxer
Oh my god, Florina Marxer skinned the Milka cow!!! Her collection is absolutely bonkers and we love it. A sense of humor in fashion is so often missing, but not here! This is funny and fun.
Alisa Menkhaus
A lot of the collections from this year’s ESMOD show incorporated elements of Asian traditional apparel. Here we have a nice example of this with an updated version of warrior coats and kimono belts.
Dariga Zhetpissova
Another hint of Asia with these Kimono sleeves and belts. Nicely constructed coats.
Athit Witayaphaet
Innovative coats seem to have been a strong topic of this year’s graduates. Here we have a collection of stunning menswear coats and jackets with bold textures and surfaces.
Francisco Rojas
Again the coats and jackets! It’s summer people! But hey, the ones from Francisco Rojas are actually quite impressive and brilliant.
Yara Skye Steffens
Yara Skye Steffens cleverly combines flowey pattern silk dresses with heavy and boldly constructed leather jackets. It’s an unusual combination, also the color palette, but it works here!
Anna Swic
The boxy shapes and muted colors by Anna Swic are maybe the closest to current trends of fashion of all the collections shown, but here it was all about the original accessories: Round and Square grids with pouches as bags.
MORE COLLECTION NEXT PAGE!
