Six Emerging Women Fashion Designers Defining the Modern Woman

 

Fashion is more than decorative fabric draped over the body; it’s interwoven into society and bleeds into communities showing off the colors of modern life. Contextually, fashion has always played a significant role in women’s lives; fashion, women’s rights, and freedom of expression have long been factors in the struggle for independence.

The Museum of FIT’s exhibit titled “Women in Fashion” highlights designers like Coco Chanel, Louise Boulanger, Jane Régny, Jeanne Lanvin, and Elsa Schiaparelli, with each designer’s pieces uniquely reflecting the modern woman’s desires and needs. Coco Chanel is perhaps the most famous example as the exhibit writes, “She [Chanel] created an image of herself as a modern woman of style, dandyish in her simplicity, with a casual-chic that made other women look like over-dressed dolls. She created a prototype for the modern woman and positioned herself as the antithesis of the reigning male designers of the postwar era.”

Around that same time, Elsa Schiaparelli was creating pieces that were not nearly as understated but synonymous with French chic. According to Colin McDowell’s piece on Schiaparelli for Business of Fashion’s “Fashion History” series, “Schiaparelli was by no means beautiful, she had ‘esprit,’ and possessed an appearance of assurance that many women of non-conventional looks and leaders of taste and style, also had in a world where prettiness meant nothing. Even faultless beauty frequently took second place to strength of character in the admiration stakes.” Her surrealist fashion inspired by Picasso, Cocteau, Picabia, and Dali presented witty and daring fashion for the modern woman.

To celebrate Women’s History Month, Fashion Reverie is highlighting modern female designers who are creating their own definition of the modern woman!

Paolina Russo

Paolina Russo is a Canadian fashion designer whose designs are meant to be moved in. Russo studied fashion at Central Saint Martins, where she developed what can be described as a moving sculpture aesthetic, inspired by her experience with Taekwondo and her love for crafting, construction, and deconstruction. According to her interview with Annika Lautens for Fashion Magazine, she says, “I started taking apart a lot of my old sports equipment and creating forms with it. I took my soccer sneakers apart and draped them until they reminded me of a corset. It created an armored look, and that’s what ignited the upcycling in my work.”

Russo’s designs are interlaced with society’s focus on sustainability and interest in new technology. She tells Fashion Magazine of her signature style called “illusion knitting,” which she describes as “a technique that creates a lenticular-like fabric [like] a holograph: When the material moves, a different image is revealed. It’s a process usually done by hand, but it’s very strenuous. So, I started working with these computerized knitting machines and developed programs that have the same effect but are much faster. Illusion knitting has become a staple within my brand.” Check out Paolina Russo’s designs on her Instagram, @paolina_russo!

Stephanie Uhart

Stephanie Uhart is a London-based Chilean designer who graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in Fashion Design with Knitwear in 2020. Uhart designs for the striking and confident woman, combining shapes and textures with vividly toned “fluff” fabric. Her pieces are made for magazine covers and editorials in their unique nature; like Schiaparelli, Uhart’s designs are impossible to ignore. Check out Stephanie Uhart’s designs on her Instagram, @stephanieuhart!

Di Petsa

Dimitra Petsa is a Greek designer who pulls from the influences of the Earth’s waters, women’s bodies, and celestial beings to create pieces that explore female sexuality. Her work is for a modern woman who has let society’s shame around the female body float away down the river. She studied at Central Saint Martins and created “The Wetness Collection” for her graduate show, where she conceived her signature “wet look.” Petsa’s pieces are meant to tell a story, with the clothes acting as a poem as women turn towards “sentimental fashion” meant to evoke a strong emotional response. Check out Di Petsa’s designs on her Instagram, @dipetsa!

Tia Adeola

Nigerian-born designer Teni ‘Tia’ Adeola was raised in London and now lives in New York. She graduated from the New School with a degree in Culture and Media and designs with the aim to rewrite the fashion narrative for people of color. For her fall 2022 collection, she shared her inspiration with Emilia Petrarca from THE CUT, “There was an uprising in my country [Nigeria] where the police were killing, kidnapping, and harassing the youth, and it was something I was very active in. So, I use graphics for the first time, and you see little jabs at the police, like, ”You were supposed to protect us.”

”The Renaissance has also always been the foundation of my inspiration, so even beyond the apparel, like the hair and makeup and the cast, I just wanted my audience to really immerse themselves in that sort of Black Renaissance narrative that I continue to push.” Another graphic altered Michelangelo’s Pietà to depict a Black Jesus and Mary showcasing her Black Renaissance narrative. While many of Adeola’s designs center around social movements, physical movement is also important, with a focus on textures, ruffles, feathers, and fringe. Check out Adeola’s work on her Instagram, @tiaadeola!

Gogo Graham

Gogo Graham started designing when she realized that there were no other brands run by a transgender woman making clothes for other transgender women. Graham designs for herself and often models her own clothes, acting as her muse. In a piece for Interview magazine, Graham speaks with Hunter Schafer, fashion model, and actress on Euphoria, about her recent fall 2022 collection, “Home! Sweet Home!” Graham says, “The title of the show, ‘Home! Sweet Home!’ is the title of a track towards the end of Grave of the Fireflies, an ’80s anime film about these two kids in wartime Japan after the bombing of Kobe. It’s not necessarily about their story, but in that scene there’s this montage of the little sister playing dress up with objects in their home. A lot of the textiles I use are very commonly found home textiles, and there’s comfort objects like stuffed animals as accessories. There’s a lot of comfy cozy knitwear.” Along with highlighting her Japanese heritage, Graham featured transgender female models in her runway show. Check out Graham’s work on her Instagram, @gogograham!

MISS SOHEE

Sohee Park grew up as an artist surrounded by her mother’s art studio. In 2020, Park turned her 2D feminine floral fantasies into a 3D graduate collection, “The Girl in Full Bloom.” Her work features traditional symbols of femininity like flowers, butterflies, and pearls to showcase her version of the modern woman. Her clothes are surrealist and sculptural for the glamorous, elegant, and fantasy-driven woman. On her Instagram, Park says that her most recent collection is “inspired by traditional Korean folk art ‘Minhwa.’ We reinterpreted different elements of nature through tableaus featuring traditional Korean colors and hand-embroidered animal motifs.” Focusing on sustainability, Park designed the collection using sustainable fabrics like the Abaca fabric, which is made from a specimen in the banana tree family. Check out Park’s work on her Instagram, @miss_sohee!

—Tessa Swantek

Image credits

• women-in-fashion-fashioninstitureoftechnology.jpg — Credit/source: the Fashion Institute of Technology.
• paulina-russo-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Paulina Russo.
• stephanie-uhart-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Stephanie Uhart.
• di-pesta-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Di Pesta.
• tia-adesola-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Tia Adesola.
• gogo-graham-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Gogo Graham.
• miss-sohee-six-emerging-women-fashion-designers-defining-the.jpg — Credit/source: Miss Sohee.
• emerging-female-designers-2022-01.jpg — Editorial image.