Bittersweet Symphony
Category: Footwear
Competitions: International
Throughout my life, I have engaged with the world of camouflage and its dual role as both a protective and concealing tool. I wanted to explore the connection between everyday defense mechanisms and otherdefenses, and to examine how clothing can serve as a shield. My collection uses colors and prints that create an illusion – at first glance, everything appears cheerful, but up close, tears and sad, painful motifs are revealed. In this project, I draw inspiration from military cuts and my everyday clothes in which I feel protected, using materials such as leather, raffia, heavy denim, and wool, which allow for the conflict between protection and roughness. The clothes are composed of layers that allow control over the degree of exposure and incorporate technologies like thermal screens and speakers. The collection is a streetwear collection for both men and women, addressing our struggle with a complex reality and the control of appearance as part of personal protection. In the collection, it was important for me to convey the feeling that even if things look a certain way, they are not really so, for example in the use of a print of military boots that look real but are printed, a creation of optical illusion.
