Do you still remember me, Florence?..

2011. Inspiration board and collection. 
Florence. Sandro Botticelli. Early Renaissance.

"Primavera" painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1482 is the central piece of the whole idea. She is Spring - graceful, light and tender. She is searching for Winter to make Summer come. There was no time for her to blossom this year, so she stays on a road where she is supposed to be between Winter and Summer. But she realizes that there is no place for her there. And she has to go... to come back again after next Winter.

I made emphasis on reproducing soft and smooth lines that were adored by many Renaissance artists, using jersey material and the technique of draping to imitate the plasticity of form. 

Mayan Treasures

2009. Details of the collection. 

I presented a collection which was inspired by the civilizations of Maya in nomination «Folk» at the IX International Young Fashion Designers Competition «Petcherski Kashtany» held in 2009. Instead of «literal quotation» of mayan costumes, I wanted to focus on adding some characteristic features to modern clothes.

Polka

2010. Dancing costume for polka. 

The task for the second production practice at the end of the fourth year was to design a dancing costume for polka for a child's dancing group. Bearing in mind the importance of it being comfortable at dancing, on the base of my research I designed a costume consisting of a shirt, a vest, petticoat and pants, a skirt and a belt, choosing cotton and jersey fabrics in white, red and blue with polka dots. 

Transformation and deconstruction

2010. Methods of transformation and deconstruction. 

Jacket consists of 4 parts: vest, sleeves, collar, and lower part of bodice. It can be easily joined together with numerous long ribbons. Main variations: a vest and a jacket. 

Dress consists of many parts that are cut in a form of triangle. 

Someone somewhere wants a letter from you

2010. Design for catalogue and sketches.

While writing a text for my fourth year project on the 1960s, I was gripped by a phrase used in an advertisement of the American Post Agency. It said: «Someone somewhere wants a letter from you». An interesting phrase, I thought and developed it into a story about a girl who has just graduated from the University and wanted to dedicate some time to travelling and finding what she really wants, so she hits the road. But there is home, a place where she can always come back and where someone waits for her, or just for a letter saying that she is doing fine. I had a hook and I had a theme which was actually connected to the 60s hippie movement. 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

2009. Inspiration board and sketches.

Mackintosh's watercolours and especially bookcase (for the drawing room, 1900) where used as an inspiration to design clothes for teenage boys. Forms, lines and colour were taken from the image of a bookcase, and internal content - from watercolours. 

Scotland Street School was used as a background to stress the purpose of clothes. 

Gym Class

2009. Sketches of children's clothes.

Owls were once discovered on FFFFound! and instantly became an inspiration for designing children's clothes for PE classes. I used graphic details from the illustration as elements (collars, pockets, stockings) and prints in clothes. 

Beatrix Potter

2008. Sleep and lounge wear. 

This was a very sudden discovery, to use a child's story to design sleep and lounge wear. I was watching a film Miss Potter (Chris Noonan, 2006) when I had a flash of inspiration. So, right after the film had ended, I started to search for Beatrix Potter's biography and works. This was such an amazing quest especially because I had some stuff with her illustrations when I was a little girl. 

So, The Tale of Peter Rabbit was chosen and I dived into work. Cloaks, shawls and jackets were taken from the characters and patterns were made from Potters' original illustrations. 

India

2008. Indian pictures and sketches.

A whole semester in the History of Arts was dedicated to Indian and Islamic art and at the end of it we had a task to draw sketches choosing India as an inspiration.

Japanese Ornaments

2008. Japanese ornaments and sketches.
Having Japanese ornaments as an inspiration I distinguished major features in patterns to design elegant clothing. 

Japanese Gardens

Fall 2007. Inspiration board. Sketches in two variations. 

One of the tasks at the end of the second year of study was to draw sketches basing on a landscape architecture. Japanese gardens were my source for creation. I distinguished low hight, round forms, curve lines and jagged edges which were used then in clothes. 

Apiaceae or Umbelliferae

Fall 2007. Inspiration board and sketches. 
One of the first works I've made at the beginning of the second year when we finally started to design clothes. The task was to apply plants to develop a set of sketches. The Apiaceae or Umbelliferae with small flowers look like underwater world on the drawing.