NEWCOMERS – FLORENTINA LEITNER
GOING BOLD Extroverted, colourful, joyful and elegant: that’s the best way to describe the garments made by Austrian fashion designer Florentina Leitner. The 25-year-old is a Master’s graduate from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and worked on Dries van Noten’s design team before setting up her own label in London. With her exclusive designs, striking prints and innovative use of materials, the designer also sets great store by sustainability, using sustainably produced fabrics and off-cuts for her collection. The pieces are finished mainly in Belgium, Italy and the UK.
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Florentina demonstrated her love of experimentation and all things bizarre in her final university collection. Entitled ‘Midnight Vertigo’, it was inspired by the Hitchcock film ‘Vertigo’. Her ‘Spiral Faux Fur Coat’ with its vortex pattern symbolises the fear of heights and vertigo that plagues the policeman in the film. This year the designer won first prize in the womenswear category of the first online Global Design Graduate Show by Artsthread in collaboration with industry giant Gucci. The inspiration for her current SS22 collection ‘Vacation on the Moon’ is the Mondsee (Moon Lake) in Austria, and her vision of designing a collection for a holiday on the moon. The silhouettes are inspired by dirndl dresses, sailor jackets and spacesuits, with a colour palette ranging from metallic silver tones to summery colours like pink and various shades of blue. In September, the young designer debuted her collection as part of the Mercedes Benz Young Talent Promotion Programme at Berlin Fashion Week. “The show at MBFW Berlin is really special for me because I was only able to present my last two collections digitally because of the pandemic. Presenting at a Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is something up-and-coming designers dream of.” Available twice a year in limited quantities, Florentina Leitner’s collections are defined by their exclusivity and individuality. The sustainable aspect of the label is not only reflected in the designs but also in the label’s distribution model: the aim is to reduce transport distances by selling directly via the online store. florentinaleitner.com
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