MONA V1

CRAZY NEVER SLEEPS

MONA MOSTAFA

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CONTENT 1. Desginer Bio 2. Collection Statement 3. Moodboard 4. Colour palette 5. Trend Forecasting 6. Look #1 7. Look #2 8. Look #3 9. Look #4 10. Look #5 11. Look #6 12. Development 13. Styling 14. Credits 15. References 5

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Based from the United Arab Emirates, Mona Mostafa is a fashion designer with an eye for contemporary fashion and developing new silhouettes. Through exaggeration and use of unconventional materials, Mona brings to the industry garments that evoke a sense of fun and can be experienced through many senses such as touch, sight or humour.

She has managed to find her aesthetic philosophy that translates local stories, deep-rooted cultural influences, and rituals into design craftsmanship. Mona embraces exploration by touching into Avant-Garde style that manages to defy cliché and, simultaneously, fuels the eagerness to discover and rethink the unknown. Frumpish clothing, bizarre shoulders and clashing archetypes are few of her many design characteristics. As a designer, she wants to normalise wearing out-of-the-ordinary garments for all sizes, genders and cultures. The ideas of what she creates is never limited to what the public has already seen or used to seeing.

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Discover ‘Crazy Never Sleeps’ Autumn/ Winter 2023 Collection, presented through the lens of a lookbook. The collection features signatures of unreal, avant and eclectics. For this season, Mona continues to provoke customers with intriguing items. This season rolls out a new in-house system of classifying materials inspired by creepy objects, archetypes of psychopathic movie characters (Infamous characters such as Patrick Bateman and Hannibal Lecter) and autoethnography from Mona’s grandmother’s house. `

Garment can not only be one dimensional and they can be experienced through many senses including sight and touch and hopefully humour. Designing in extremes, this collection showcases a lot of texture and is something wanting to put one of our gifted senses to use, the sense of touch. With this collection, people would be able to look at these awkward bodies and feel truly uneasy but you get the sense of touch. All in all, you can feel uncomfortable but you’re also comfortable.

The horror genre has always influenced how we perceive reality, contributing and shaping our fears. Macabre and darkness are powerful ways to express obscure parts of our mind, perversions and nightmares. ‘Crazy Never Sleeps’ brilliantly manages to combine both, with a good dose of surrealism and satire thrown in for good measure. It leaves the individuals in feeling of discomfort, awe and laughter.

In this collection, Mona carries on with the reinvention of the most mundane of items to create coveted looks, this time with “minky blankets” (Leow, 2019) that Mona bought on visits back to the United Arab Emirates and to her apartment in Melbourne, Victoria. They may not have a widely agreed-upon name

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(some call them “flower blankets,” “minky blankets,” “ethnic blankets” or, as Mona puts it, “immigrant blankets”), but they are not just any blankets (Salam and Times, 2021).

For a handful of cultures around the globe, the Arab world among them, the blankets offers a sense of belonging. They include large-scale patterns, in spectrum of colours, conjure visions of thick, richly hued Persian rugs (Salam and Times, 2021). The warmth comes from hypersoft polyester fabric called minky that is used for baby products (Nystrom, 2019). Sleeping in one of these during winter is perfectly insulating. While produced in the Middle East,they are mostly manufactured in China & Korea, making their way into Hispanic, Arab, Russian homes . For years, they have also often been given as gifts for occasions like weddings! (Salam and Times, 2021).

Sustainability is a considered with every collection. Mona has done this in this collection by upcyclingMaking garments from these blankets. They have also brought a sense of belonging in our homes.

The colours carried out through the collection are cool tones and black and white for a more “assylum” look, as inspired by Gucci Spring 2020 (Phelps, 2019). The collection plays with extreme shapes, distorting the silhouettes of garments, yet keeping a perfect balance between big and small in the outrageous looks. Mona brings the most out of garments through exaggeration whether through volumes, tailoring aspect, or textures.

Hero body is displayed through tailoring aspects and aggressive shoulders and motifs like use of flower blankets, along with details such as scratches and deconstructions to convey the psychotic behaviour. In the end, art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

gZCNOh 9

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Pantone Neutral Black

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Pantone 302 C

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FLUFFY

TREND FORECASTING

SURREAL SHOULDER GLOVES 16

TREND FORECASTING

BLUE SHORTS SURREAL SKIRTS 17

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LOOK #1 20

Printed Patrick Bateman Dress

Patrick Bateman Face distorted and printed onto Oliver fabric from Digital Fabrics. 127 GSM lightweight polyester spandex blend.

Closure is thin red rope trim that ties at the back like a surgical gown.

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Other trims include gun metal buttons at the cuffs.

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Pagoda Shoulder Shirt & Tie

Shirt made out of Havana Line Denim from Tessuti fabrics. Designer Italian navy/cream 100% cotton medium weight denim. 350 GSM. Trims include gun metal buttons and red yarn.

Knee Cut-Out Trousers

Pants made out of Cold Steel from Tessuti fabrics. Clavin Klein teal 100% cotton. Trims include gun metal buttons and red yarn.

Tassel Cape Made out of 15m of tassels in silver/blue colour.

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LOOK #2 25

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LOOK #3 28

Minky Blanket Jacket with Detachable Shoulder Pads

Asymmetrical cropped jacket made entirely from hypersoft polyester.

Trims include blue snap buttons and firemen jacket hooks.

Emirates Tag Shorts and Boot Accessory

Made from vegan leather from Contrado fabrics. It has polyester back and PVC face with a customised print of scanned luggage tags. The shorts side flaps close up with snap buttons. Gun metal buttons and buckles are featured for design details.

Fish Print Tights

Made from florence power net from Contrado fabrics 90% polyester 10% elastane. These pair of tights are rushed and have elastics on the seams. They are printed with fish scale print.

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Pagoda Bodysuit

Made from slinky lycra matt 82% polyester and 18% lycra. Closes with invisible zipper at the centre back.

This look is made from 2.5mm sheets of neoprene and printed on with ink sublimation. Both garments have centre back exposed zips.

Pagoda Midi Dress with Gored Skirt.

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LOOK #4 33

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LOOK #5 36

Pagoda Printed Shirt Dress

Printed on London fabric, a twill weave polyester fabric, 218 GSM from Digital Fabrics. The shirt dress has concealed placket with gun metal buttons.

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Jacket with Fold Over Right Sleeve

Made from Mateo Black/Grey stripe fabric from Davisha. 80% wool 20% poly. Trims include blue yarn, gun metal buttons and firemen hook.

Knee Length Shorts

45% wool, 55% poly 230 GSM. Blue yarn and gun metal buttons included as well.

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LOOK #6 41

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FASHION

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M/FW MELBOURNE

WEEK 10 - 16 OCTOBER 2022

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CREDITS

Collection Photography- Takoda Meyer, Julia Sou Models- Magbul Choul, Maleek, Jack Taylor, Gio Henri Headshot- Olivia Harper, Louise Armstrong, Adam Epps

Vinyl Gloves- Laein Antoni M/FW Styling- Stuart Walford M/FW Photography- Bella Loke, MC Walker, Naomi Rahim M/FW Models- Gio Henri, Shay Langley, Clare Walker Whitehouse Team- Gretchen Geoghegan, Deepa Richmond, Darran Arabin-Gander, Jye Marshall, Alfia Galimova, Richard McCoy

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1. Holgate, M. (2018). Marine Serre Spring 2019 Ready-to-Wear Collection. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2019ready-to-wear/marine-serre [Accessed 30 Jun. 2022].

2. Leow, M. (2019). Balenciaga is selling a $3,000 tote that looks like a bag of blankets. [online] Insider. Available at: https://www.insider.com/balenciaga-selling-designer-blanket-bag-2019-5 [Accessed 30 Jun. 2022].

3. Nystrom, M. (2019). Top 5 Minky Fabric Problems, Concerns & Solutions. [online] blog.shannonfabrics.com. Available at: https://blog.shannonfabrics.com/ blog/2019/06/13/minky-plush-fabric-problems [Accessed 30 Jun. 2022].

4. Phelps, N. (2019). Gucci Spring 2020 Ready-to-Wear Collection. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2020-ready-towear/gucci [Accessed 30 Jun. 2022].

5. Salam, M. and Times, F.A.Q.F.T.N.Y. (2021). ‘Like a Warm Hug From an Angel’. The New York Times. [online] 26 Feb. Available at: https://www.nytimes. com/2021/02/26/arts/immigrant-blankets-arab.html [Accessed 30 Jun. 2022].

Reference list for moodboard

1. Akaibu (n.d.). Undercover: SS2003 Scab Runway Looks | Archive Fashion Scan. [online] ARCHIVE.pdf. Available at: https://www.archivepdf.net/undercover-ss2003-scab-runway-looks [Accessed 16 Mar. 2022].

2. American Psycho. (2000). [Film] Lions Gate Films.

3. Bates Motel. (1987). NBC.

4. Dazed (2015). Galliano vs Margiela: a visual history. [online] Dazed. Available at: https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/23127/1/galliano-vs-margiela-a-visual-history [Accessed 20 Apr. 2022].

5. Di Bernardini, C. (2021). Kristian David’s bridge between the East and the West. [online] 1 Granary. Available at: https://1granary.com/designers-to-hire/kristian-david/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2022].

6. Mostafa, M (2022). Patoo. [Photos].

7. Nast, C. (2015). Alexander McQueen Spring 1996 Ready-to-Wear Collection. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-1996ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen [Accessed 20 Mar. 2022].

8. The Shining. (1980). [Film] Warner Bros.

9. The Silence of The Lambs. (1991). [Film] Orion Pictures. Reference list for moodboard 2