LEAH HERSZBERG
STUDENT BIO:
Fashion is not just about the clothing we wear, but the stories we tell. To me, fashion is an art, through which we can find philosophical expression. Clothing that asks questions in its colours, seeks answers in its form and comes to new conclusions every time it is worn; in the minds of the people who wear it. I try to create designs which convey a meaningful concept and which are complex even if they seem simple at first. Like all good art, fashion sparks dialogue in a tumultuous world.
Growing up in a large family where we constantly challenged each other, I learnt to see the world with a curious and open mind and admire the beauty that surrounds me through fashion design lenses. Fiery debates amongst family members dared me to be brave and disturb the traditional picture of menswear and womenswear. I question old habits and continuously reinforced stereotypes by creating soft feminine designs mixed with masculine tailoring and androgynous silhouettes. Contemporary minimalism combined with specific attention to detail, where all the designs can be deconstructed and reformed for a unique and personal approach.
Fashion should be an experience where justification of self is not required. Effortless, wearable pieces that encourage the wearer to loosen up their proclivity and experiment with their own personal style. I wish to create a limitless and trans-seasonal fashion experience, that enables people to express themselves, replacing uniformity with diversity, rigidity with fluidity and uniqueness.
COLLECTION STATEMENT:
Once we thought that in everyone and everything there was an essence, something to return to, even if hidden under layers of appearances. But 19th Century continental existentialists thought differently. Maybe once stripped back, behind what exists, there is only nothingness. The only way to encounter this nothingness is by actuating our ‘being’ and embracing our existence.
‘Being and Nothingness’, the name of French philosopher Satre’s most prolific work, reminds us that we are all “perpetually condemned to freedom” — to design and redesign the world in which we live, to act the part of the person we are at any time, and to observe the world as it is, existing and changing, never one thing at its core.
Existentialists encourage us to embrace the absurd, and this Trans-Seasonal Gender Fluid 2021 Collection brings the absurdity to fashion.
Living like an existentialist is the basis of this range. It encourages the consumer to feel that they are “never one of your attitudes, any one of your actions.” It represents the free human in the various ways it can be worn, and the many situations it can be worn in.
The collection re-assembles the conventional dress code with authentic, versatile and contemporary looks that embrace the current culture of performance and action. A liberating fashion, that shapes and reshapes in every moment.
