January 26th 2018 – It is the last day of the Haute Couture Fashion Week and Parisian fashion marathon of January which includes Mens Fashion Week and pre-winter 2018-2019 collections’ showrooms. It is the day IFA Paris chose to showcase the creativity of the next generation through the fashion show of 6 students, coming from all over the world, from its program Master of Arts Contemporary Fashion Design. These 6 students have been selected by a jury of fashion professionals a week before the show for their creativity and their capacity to present a coherent collection and brand project.
Cynthia Arias
On the catwalk, six very different collections which offer an eclectic vision of today’s fashion liberty:
Ruktam Srinakarin from Thailand constructed his collection from researches on “collage”, contemporary architecture and the consequences of international politics on everyone’s life. The result consists of a series of silhouettes both gentle and aggressive, romantic and streetwear, where the Haute Couture embroideries meet the deconstructed down jackets, where aerial muslin converges with armour corsets.
Ruktam Srinakarin
Jessica Khanna from India revisits the traditional sari from her native India with rigorous Parisian silhouettes. Very far from the folklore of sequined embroideries and vivid colours of the sari, Jessica imagined dark silhouettes with a very fluid and asymmetric fold of fabric. These saris came with perfect pairs of slim trousers, prints inspired by the stones and the facade of Parisian buildings, slightly softened by delicate abstract black and white embroideries. However Jessica doesn’t forget to bring to the fore the artisanal Indian savoir-faire with the use of cotton hand woven in India.
A universe completely at odds with the one of Mei Po Ng from Hong Kong, whose collection aims to translate the questioning of the millennial generation, between romantic aspirations and a life cadenced by the social networks. Her no gender collection is an abundance of layers of cotton, trashy mesh, tape lacing in the 18th century fashion, patches, decorating effects, where the delicacy of silk organza collides with metallic accessories. We can notice in these silhouettes some seemingly unaware references to Japan and Korea, which can sometimes make them look like samba dancers.
Back to calm with Justine Belano from the Philippines, who took the opposite path from her experience in the mass market fashion and applies Japanese Wabi Sabi’s mind to contemporary stitches. Some Jersey cotton panels and wool knitting are disassembled and reassembled in a random way to create minimalist deconstructed silhouettes, which are supple and almost languid in neutral and powdered colours. Only the plastic boots and weird metallic accessories come to counterbalance these delicate coilings.
Mei Po Ng
It’s the always buzzing Los Angeles, where she used to work for a long time, which is probably what inspired Cynthia Arias from Mexico. The young designer plays with the luxury and Haute Couture imagery while insufflating the streetwear energy and the Californian disinhibited modernity. Her jumpers made out of delicate lace sometimes sequined or embroidered glide under neoprene crinolines and baroques pleats, a simple t-shirt or white mens shirts intensified by curls. With Cynthia, too much is never enough.
Extreme finesse for Chandani Pradanang from Nepal, who conceived her silhouettes from the idea of patterns elongations where random folds of fabric soften rigorous suits constructions, where volumes inspired by the 80s can evoke 16th century portraits. But in this collection, Chandani makes the most of her great colourist talent with a range of colours unexpected and extremely sophisticated.
At IFA Paris we love their talent and we look forward to seeing the collection of these designers on the different catwalks around the world.
Please enjoy the full video of our 2018 Master of Arts Contemporary Fashion Design:
For more information on the program pursued by the students, who had a chance to showcase their collections:
Master of Arts Contemporary Fashion Design