Fashion begins with inspiration: That can be derived from shapes, colours or even architecture. But what happens when the inspiration comes from somewhere else entirely? Here’s three designers that took inspiration from stories or everyday life, to turn it into a poetic concept.
Empowerment Studio
Pia Hintz is an Austrian designer based in Kabwe, Zambia. 2022, she founded Empowerment Studio, an independent fashion label. The studio creates long-term opportunities for women in the local community, and profits are reinvested into education, community projects and vocational training. One collection is developed every year, taking experiences lived by the people in Zambia, and transforming it into a concept for a collection: This year’s collection is inspired by the rainy season in Zambia.
When the rain begins, daily routines dissolve. People abandon their plans, seek shelter wherever they can and wait together—businesspeople beside farmers, schoolchildren beside market vendors, strangers beside neighbours. For a brief moment, occupation, status and background become secondary to a shared experience.
Instead of being inspired by rain itself, the collection uncovers the effect it has on people.
Karim Temimi
Karim Temimi, Austrian designer and artist, works at the intersection of contemporary art, cinematic imagery and sculptural fashion. For him, fashion is more than clothing: it’s an artistic medium, a mask, a role or the manifestation of inner states. Among other things, his works include collections, sculpture and narrative visual spaces.
Inspired by Alice in Wonderland: Loss of identity, distortion of reality, compulsion, fear, escape into fantasy, feeling overwhelmed, and the sense of no longer being able to control one’s own body or role: These are all themes visualised by Temimi’s third collection, THE ROOM BEHIND THE MIRROR. The collection translates these states into silhouettes, contrasts in materials and exaggerated forms. Playful elements meet restlessness, distortion and darkness.
Rather than interpreting the story as the children’s fairytale, Karim Temimi utilises it to show a psychological space.
Nicolas Dudek
Five Years at Vienna Fashion Week: An anniversary for 19-year-old polish-born Designer Nicolas Dudek. With his label founded in 2022, he has been presenting at Vienna fashion every year, mostly being known for dramatic gowns, long trains and an extensive amount of tulle.
Inspired by the famous tale of 101 spotted puppies and their glamorous nemesis, his collection tells a story of innocence and seduction: on one side, fluffy white silhouettes whose hand-placed black spots translate the Dalmatians’ coat into tulle; on the other, the world of Cruella de Vil — dramatic gowns in vivid red and deep black, opulent capes and sculptural ruffles.
With his new collection, “Les 101 Dalmatiens,” Nicolas Dudek returns to a childhood classic — this time with a wink.
