Friday 13 September
Victoria House
Bloomsbury Square
London WC1B 4DA
The distinctive Wear Polish fashion show is a yet another event organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute to promote Polish fashion brands. The Polish showcase will include young Polish designers selected in cooperation with Fashion Scout: Acephala, Diligent and Pat Guzik. Developed over the past few years, their fashion collections are a promise of immense foreign market growth. Each of them have been building their own visual codes, relentlessly generating their individual and unique artistic DNA. In manufacturing, all three brands account for sustainable development and social responsibility of the fashion industry – they collaborate with local producers and craftsmen, and use sustainable high-quality materials. Some have gone so far as to reach for reused fabric; Pat Guzik is a case in point, operating on the ‘recycle-reuse-love’ principle. The Polish showcase is a presentation of dynamic designs, both creative as well as crafted consciously and responsibly. All brands will be showing their Spring/Summer 2020 collections.
ACEPHALA
Monika Kędziora is the designer and creative director of Acephala. She graduated with an MA in Art History at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poland. She then completed a Postgraduate Course in Fashion, Styling and Trends at Academy of Fine Art.
Acephala Spring-Summer 2020 collection explores the relation between female body and space. Drawing from the work of artistic “influencers” - Katarzyna Kobro and Ana Mendieta - the clothes are ‘uniforms’ which enable the wearer to become a part of her surroundings. The clothes provide the wearer: space, autonomy and a visible presence. Such is their flexibility, they also allow her to ‘blend in’ and experience the comfort of privacy when needed.
The collection offers a full range of clothing: easy to wear t-shirt and shirt dresses, semi-formal maxi dresses, unconventional white shirts, offbeat suits, statement skirts and extravagant coats. The whole collection has been produced with luxury fabrics from Portugal and Italy using organic and experimental cotton, tencel crepe, organic virgin wool, silk, alcantara, gold/silver metallic net and jacquard.
With its geometric designs juxtaposed with fluid and soft lines, the SS20 collection is composed of architectural and draped pieces. Expert gathering, bias cutting and off the body tailoring creates idiosyncratic: classical forms, minimalist shapes and voluminous silhouettes. Bold experimentation creates memorable designs with: sculptured wavy sleeves, cut-outs, architectural shapes, unorthodox bustier corsets, prints with all over landscape painting and knitwear dresses, jumpers, tops and skirts are made using innovative knitting techniques.
DILIGENT
Born in 2015 DILIGENT is the collaboration between young designers Szymon Mrózek and Marta Pospieszna. Bold and brave with design, the duo play with colours and fabrics to create wearable extravagant luxury street wear designed and made in Poland. This contemporary designer label produces both womenswear and menswear collections. They take inspiration from street fashion, contemporary art, nature and the world's major cities.
For SS20 DILIGENT launch their new UNIFORM line. The design aesthetic is a mix of ready-to-wear everyday fashion combined with traces of the brand’s typical avant-garde style.
Raw Toney is a multi-cultural blend of fashion inspirations. This original collection exudes freedom, individualism and a return to ‘handcrafted’ clothing. The collection includes such things as: hand-dyed fabrics covered with abstract ‘hippie’ discoloration patterns. The colour pallet is all about earthly hues, split with slightly deeper and more expressive shades of lemon, willow green, emerald, and turquoise. Dyed fabrics of beiges and browns merge into light greens and azures. These then spill over into dark amaranth, brown, and khaki.
With its exaggerated, forceful design, ‘Raw Toney’ is a parade of silhouettes inspired by the clash between seemingly incompatible elements such as: a misalliance of ‘hip-hop’ with Saint-Tropez beaches of the 1960s and 1970s; dainty sensual fabrics and coarse denim cotton; feminine dresses, corsets and skirts, oversized jackets and loose-fitting shirts with hipster-cut trousers.
The collection, with echoes of a Victorian past and a modern future, has many idiosyncratic features including luxury silk exposed pockets, which combine traditional handbags with ‘fanny packs’. The collection contains a variety of handmade hats for either day or evening wear.
PAT GUZIK
Designer Pat Guzik graduated from the faculties of Philosophy and Fashion Design. Her diploma collection was awarded with a 6 months scholarship in Escuela de Diseno y Alta Costura in Valencia. She then went onto show her collection in Riga (Habitus Bajtija), Hannover (Fashion Finals), Budapest (Central European Fashion Days) , Hong Kong (Hong Kong Fashion Week, Center Stage Asia's Fashion Spotlight) and Vancouver (Vancouver Fashion Week).
As well as showcasing her collection all over the world Pat Guzik has won several awards for her Sustainable practices in the industry.
Pat Guzik collections are designed in accordance to sustainable fashion rules. Based on strong values; responsibly sourced, local production, cooperation and transparency.
Pat Guzik’s ‘Streetwear’ line has been made with unique patterns that allow efficient use of materials and the elimination of textile waste. Her ‘Reconstruct’ line is made entirely from second hand clothing. Pat Guzik collaborates with Polish Illustrator Mateusz Kolek to create the labels prints, patterns and embroidery.
Inspiration for her SS20 collection comes from author Gertrude Jekyll’s book ‘Wood and Garden’. The fashion show will involve a presentation of the “recycle-reuse-love” collection. The line itself based on the reuse of materials secured from alternative sources. Auteur clothing cuts have been designed to best use all fabric, and eliminate any textile offcuts in production.
Pat Guzik maintains that, when journeying into the unknown, you will always bring back something unexpected and original. Guzik claims that during the day we swirl the colours of the merry-go-round of life at a speed that blends all shades into an elusive white. At night, however, in our dreams, we are drawn into an extraordinary spectacle of luminosity, as if into a drawing. Pat Guzik’s collection takes us into a world of imagination.
The event will involve a presentation of the “recycle-reuse-love” line. Protection of the earth and sustainability are to the fore and the line itself reuses materials secured from alternative sources. Auteur clothing cuts have been designed to use the whole fabric and eliminate any waste.