I’ve always dreamed about dressing Sade.The 28-year-old Finnish designer mixes leather silhouettes and sharp tailoring to inform their pieces. The Central Saint Martins graduate called their final collection Butch as an ode to their reinterpretation of nonconformist gender clothing, marginalized butch identities and visibility.What’s the Awesome knitting because murder is wrong cat shirt in other words I will buy this inspiration behind your designs and what does your process entail?Most of the clothes produced today are still created mainly for the cis heteronormative audience—I want to provoke change through gender, queerness, sexuality, style and beauty. Previously my creative process included going out and meeting other queer people. This past year has not been much of a social playground; it’s pushed me into new ways of thinking.Tell us about a favorite item you’ve made?The light-brown, two-piece suit, including a leather harness waistcoat, knee-cut tailored suit trousers and black leather belt. It’s the perfect balance of leather, sex, skin and tailoring.Who would you most love to dress?Roxane Gay, Christine and the Queens, my dear friend and illustrator Edith Hammar—the list goes on!The 27-year-old, who has a knack for referencing both his youth and modern teen culture, creates tongue-in-cheek looks that play with experimental (and delightful) proportions and fabrics, while blurring the lines of gender norms.What is the goal behind your genderless designs?It’s to bring beautiful childhood memories to the surface by mixing up styles that would remind people of their younger days, but done in a humorous way. There should be no gender in clothing—wearing clothes should be all about expressing yourself however you want. The advantage [of making genderless clothing] is that we make clothes that have the potential to attract more people, regardless of gender, but it means that the fit can be limited in terms of size.Tell us about a favorite piece you’ve madeI like the changpao shirt from spring 2021. It can be styled casually for any gender.”The 24-year-old’s gender-defying clothes speak to female allyship, queer empowerment, and sex. Having made his London Fashion Week debut in 2020, the Westminster graduate’s spring 2021 collection is brimming with rich obscure corsetry, alluring leather accessories and overzealous shoulder pads.What is the message behind your designs?[I want to create a] link between my past life in Spain and my life in London now. I want my work to be both a challenge and a celebration — of queerness, of freedom, of sex, of aspiration. I named my spring 2021 collection Madre, Hermana, Amiga in celebration and recognition of the allyship of women. Clothing should not have a gender; clothing should not alienate or differentiate. Consumers should start expressing themselves without fear of repercussions or judgement.Which collaborators have been fundamental to making your collection?My friend and creative director Betsy Johnson. She is a core part of the brand and it’s incredible sharing this journey with her.
Awesome knitting because murder is wrong cat shirt, hoodie, tank top, sweater and long sleeve t-shirt
Since starting her line in 2019, Isabella Lalonde of Beepy Bella has become well-known in fashion circles for creating whimsical, fairy-dust-sprinkled jewelry. Her pieces are dotted with natural stones—freshwater pearls and teardrops—and dotted with pendants of mushrooms and crosses, worn by the Awesome knitting because murder is wrong cat shirt in other words I will buy this likes of Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid, and Halsey. And now Lalonde has transferred that magical air to a T-shirt in a collaboration with the label A.Avaati.Lalonde discovered A.Avaati through Instagram. The Brooklyn-based label, founded by Alex Caivano and Alex De Ronde, had created a shirt called “Body Jewelry,” printed with images of chains, crosses, and charms. “I immediately saw an opportunity to do a similar concept with my own jewelry,” says Lalonde. From there, she reached out to collaborate, giving them creative direction and themes. “It was a symbiotic relationship,” she says.Caivano and De Ronde gave Lalonde’s mystical creations a digital-minded take, resulting in a kaleidoscope of trippy visuals. One shirt, titled “Enhancement of Reality Tee,” is dotted with fungi and fluorescent butterflies. A cherry and pink tie-dye shirt named “Protection of Inner Aura” is decorated with a completely beaded bra. “I love the idea of having a shirt that has another garment on top of it,” she says.While many designers create psychedelic, mushroom-dotted clothing and accessories, Lalonde’s storytelling sets her apart from the pack. “I was able to throw a lot of emotion into them and design them in the same way that I designed my jewelry, which is heavily based on personal experience,” says Lalonde. “There are little elements of myself I’d put into every shirt.” Even though the story may not always be immediately evident to the viewer, this personal bent allows her to experiment freely and go down rabbit holes other designers would not. This is especially apparent in her “Protection From Confusion Tee,” which boasts a pair of fairy wings on its back. “I had the idea to do that because when I was younger, I genuinely believed I had fairy wings,” Lalonde explains. “I was scared of my parents seeing them and being outed!”Designing the T-shirts has provided Lalonde a larger canvas than a necklace or pair of earrings, allowing her to really show off her range. To go a step further, Lalonde collaborated with her sister, Ines, on producing the music for the A.Avaati promo videos. The clips feature an alien-like avatar with elven ears in a digitized, Mars-like universe. While the figure rotates in one of the T-shirts, a bizarre but satisfying cacophony of sweet sounds plays. If you think the short soundtrack sounds how the shirt looks, that was Lalonde’s intention. During the creation process, Lalonde gave her sister prompts like, “how would you describe the sound when you bite into the berry?” or would send time-lapse videos of mushrooms growing.While Lalonde doesn’t have plans to delve further into clothing design just yet, the collaboration with A.Avaati helped her develop her own creative process as a designer. Most of all, it allowed her to put trippier designs out into the world in a new format. “All of these directions I’ve been giving everyone throughout this project, including A.Avaati, and my sister, have been a lot about senses and distorting our senses in terms of making,” says Lalonde. “You ‘hear colors’ and ‘see tastes’. You feel that psychedelic type of disorientation, which is a natural high.”