The 16 of ’16: Meet the Young Designers Who Won 2016 Inline
Photo: Courtesy of Dilara Findikoglu / @dilarafindikoglu1/16Dilara Findikoglu
Provenance: London
Need to know: Turkish-born, Central Saint Martins graduate Dilara Findikoglu was the driving force behind the fashion school’s #encoreCSM show for graduates who weren’t selected for the university’s press presentation. We’re lucky she opted to go her own way because Findikoglu’s kitschy take on punk rock and tailoring is not to be missed. Though she just graduated in 2016, her collectsion has already been worn by Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
Photo: Jasper Clarke2/16The Vampire’s Wife
Provenance: Brighton, England
Need to know: After getting her start in modeling at the age of 14—for the likes of Alaïa, John Galliano, and David Bailey, no less—Sophie Cave (née Bick) switched gears to focus on the clothes themselves. Her new project, The Vampire’s Wife, channels her love of “Russian ballet, children’s books, costumes, and art” into a collectsion of vintage-inspired, delicate dresses in charming floral prints and candy shades.
Photo: Courtesy of Eric Schlösberg3/16Eric Schlösberg
Provenance: New York
Need to know: Formerly of the New York design duo Ammerman Schlösberg, Eric Schlösberg struck out on his own in 2016 with a collectsion of punched-up pieces in McDonald’s colors with Anna Nicole Smith as an inspiration. A bit much? Indeed, but more is more is something of Schlösberg’s motto.
Photo: Courtesy of Stevie Mada4/16LRS
Provenance: New York
Need to know: Raul Solis presented his second LRS collectsion at the Rumpus Room, a cozy club on the Lower East Side. It was a fitting space for the audience—a mix of downtown kids and in-the-know editors—and the clothes, which were more or less inspired by an ecstasy trip. Think: Head-to-toe red vinyl, rainbow-striped Mongolian lamb shawls, and intergalactic legging-boots.
Photo: Courtesy of Ifeoma5/16Ifeoma
Provenance: Los Angeles
Need to know: A former intern of Eckhaus Latta and employee of Berlin-based culture magazine 032C, designer Reva Ochuba cites the Medieval era and the allure of upholstery fabrics as inspirations for her alluring, deconstructed pieces. With only one collectsion under her belt, the designer plans to broaden into more categories for 2017.
Photo: Courtesy of Ryan Duffin6/16Noa Raviv
Provenance: Tel Aviv and New York
Need to know: Earlier this year, Raviv added a line to her résumé that most new designers only dream of: Her work was featured in the Met’s “Manus x Machina” exhibition. Her black dress and pencil skirt with curving, sculptural 3-D-printed grids supported the show's “machine” theme, but her Spring ’17 collectsion actually featured a mix of the handmade and machine-made. Alongside diaphanous, hand-pleated dresses were a few pieces made of “crystal fabric,” in which Raviv’s custom patterns were turned into a mold and filled with millions of tiny, tiny Swarovski crystals.
Photo: Courtesy of Maggie Marilyn7/16Maggie Marilyn
Provenance: New Zealand’s North Island
Need to know: Maggie Marilyn is one of the youngest new designers in the game—she just graduated from university in May, and her namesake collectsion is already stocked at Net-a-Porter. Credit her swift success to her collectsion’s winning mix of deconstructed slip dresses, ruffly jackets, and raw-edged shirts, which all ring up for less than $700.
Photo: Matthew Sprout8/16Wendelborn
Provenance: New York
Need to know: You know Kate Wendelborn from the line Protagonist, which she designed for several seasons before departing and started her own solo project. Her minimal, languid aesthetic remains, seen in nubbly knits, lean dresses, and an upcoming collectsion of not-to-be-missed jeans.
Photo: Courtesy of Sid Neigum9/16Sid Neigum
Provenance: Toronto
Need to know: Neigum made his London Fashion Week debut in February with an inventive collectsion of sculptural gowns, camel hair capes, and rumpled jackets based on the golden ratio (1 x 1.618). They’re pieces that could very well be unisex, which he’d do well to explore in future seasons. It’s arty, intellectual fashion we can see Lady Gaga or Björk wearing, onstage or off. Neigum’s clothes are conceptual and avant-garde, but they make sense for real life, too.
Photo: Rob Northway10/16Childs
Provenance: New York
Need to know: Robert Childs spent years as the design director at Thom Browne before striking out on his own. Needless to say, with that experience, he knows menswear tailoring better than the best of them. His eponymous line takes a more casual approach to dressing, marrying the low-key spirit of his Key West, Florida, youth with the types of easy essentials necessary in the Big City.
Photo: Kris Mitchell / Courtesy of Pieter11/16Pieter
Provenance: London
Need to know: Born in the Netherlands, designer Sebastiaan Pieter is two seasons into a collectsion inspired by the rituals and realities of a homosexual lifestyle. His clothes are provocative and clever, entering an area of menswear that’s not often explored, where the wearer can simultaneously be dressed for sex or the street.
Photo: Courtesy of Fashion East12/16Matty Bovan
Provenance: London
Need to know: Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2015, Matty Bovan has quickly risen through the ranks of need-to-know London talents. His M.A. collectsion first sparked our interest for its crafty-meets-otherworldly crochet and knit creations, and he landed on the Fashion East runway for Spring ’17—no doubt a harbingser of big things to come.
Photo: Courtesy of H&M13/16Richard Quinn
Provenance: London
Need to know: Hello, prints! CSM grad Richard Quinn is having a love affair with pattern. He crafted an entire graduate collectsion out of over-the-top, exaggerated prints of all stripes, layering them one over the other in surreal, ladylike ensembles. His fearless sense with color and proportion won him H&M’s Design Award this year.
Photo: Jeremy Zaessinger14/16Sandra Mansour
Provenance: Beirut
Need to know: Think of Lebanese fashion, and couture gowns by Ellie Saab, Zuhair Murad, or Reem Acra likely come to mind. But Sandra Mansour is more interested in glamour with a wink, like tulle gowns embroidered with seashells and fish, sheer brocade jackets to layer over slips, and playful riffs on classic Middle Eastern motifs. She’s also one of very few designers in her market. On living and working in Lebanon, Mansour told us: “There aren’t that many designers from Lebanon, especially women. I want to show that if you’re based in Beirut, you can still make it.”
Photo: Gibson Fox; Courtesy of Daisy15/16Daisy
Provenance: Sydney
Need to know: Real-life couple Renee and Gibson Fox design the subversively delightful collectsion Daisy, which draws on street culture and-wait for it-Renaissance dress. Their miniature black corsets have already been worn by Kim Kardashian West, and their oversize logo tees are a favorite of Bella Hadid. It helps, of course, that the Foxes are veritable style icons in their own right.
Photo: Courtesy of Asia Typek16/16MSBHV
Provenance: Poland
Need to know: Polish brand MSBHV made its New York Fashion Week debut in September and introduced its first-ever women’s collectsion. Designer Natalia Maczek doesn’t really design with specific genders in mind; guys and girls alike wear MSBHV’s oversize bombers, see-through vinyl pants, and motocross-inspired jerseys. The day of the presentation, she told Replica Handbag Store Runway: “Clothing today should be interlinked between the sexes—it’s the natural progression of fashion. The juxtaposition and mix are what make it sexy and interesting.”
