The Secret Code Of Fashion is an international platform specialized in public relations and brand strategy agency based in Milan, dedicated to young designers and new talents worldwide. The agency curates year-round events based on fashion scout that connects new talents in fashion industry with visionary brand partners like Mad Mood Milano. The agency decided to bring to life in a different way her new platform dedicated to new talents from fashion industry through her branding agency, The Secret Code Of Fashion from Milan, and decided to create creative runways for international young designers from all over the world. After the huge success at Feeric Fashion Week, the projectdecided to move forward with the project bringing fashion students and emerging talents from different European countries like United Kingdom, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Polonia or France at Mad Mood during Milan Fashion Week in September 2017.
KATIE GEMENTERA
Katie Gementera is a young Fashion Designer located in London, United Kingdom. From a young age, Fashion Design was the dream career to pursue. With fashion and textiles training over the years and a foundation degree in Art & Design, Katie was accepted into the renowned Parsons: The New school of Design in NYC, US, in 2013 where she began her BFA degree. In 2015, Katie transferred campus’ to Parsons Paris, France for a semester abroad. After falling in love with the City, Katie applied to complete her Final Year in 2016 at the Parsons Paris campus. During 2015 and 2016, she was based in London, UK and spent the year interning for high end luxury womenswear and couture brands where her knowledge was extended and skills enhanced in the working industry. This placement year allowed for a strong basis leading into her 2017 Graduate Collection: Growing up Now. The brand strives for creativity and playfulness throughout design with strong emphasis on creating something fresh, feminine and fun! The clothes are about creating a ‘feeling’ in people that they can resonate with instantly.
The personal memories of the open-air games and childhood experiences lived by the designer give rise to a womenswear collection in which playfulness, freedom, innocence and nostalgia are expressed through the contemporaneity of oversized geometries, exuberant ribbons and ludic accessories.
The collection is built in response to today’s childish ideals. It is simple to forget how we started our life, and in an increasingly digital generation, it’s important to keep childish traits, such as freedom, naivety, or innocence.
BORYANA PETROVA
Boryana Petrova has strong interdisciplinary background in art with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting (National Academy of Arts) and Masters’ in Digital Arts (NAA) as well as Fashion and Business strategies (New Bulgarian University). The inspiration behind the brand BoryanaPetrova comes from the field of visual arts, but it speaks of present day subjects, such as technological progress, biomimetics and environmental issues. The designs stand out with innovative color usage and the integration of electronic components and external to the body elements like light, wind or magnetic fields. The form and patterns presented by the brand are crafted through traditional garment and textile construction techniques and are influenced by nature, civilization and history of art. Petrova’s first collection - Biotrace, is inspired by images of microbes under a microscope. The color palette is influenced by Impressionism and Neoimpressionism in painting and the patterns - by Glitch and Pop art. The textiles are covered in neon prints and silicone tubes which glow under black light and in the dark, much like some strains of microbes. The silhouette and tailoring patterns are a take on the typical tomboy look - bomber jacket and oversize trousers, but combined with round shoulders, pleats and tight waist. The merging of these elements, normative for both men’s and women’s clothing, gives women the chance to find their identity, wherever in the full gender spectrum that might be. The materials used in the collection are wool, cotton and polyester. The Biotrace collection was first shown at the end of May as part of Fashion Forecast 2018, the graduate fashion show for New Bulgarian University’s Master Program in Fashion and Business Strategies. A few weeks later it was presented a an individual show during Balkan Fashion Week 2017 and was part of the young talents project during Feeric Fashion Week 2017.
SANJA MATIJEVIC
Sanja Matijevic finished BA in fashion design in 2007. She showcased her first collection in summer 2007 amoung 7 international names (Tony Ward, Gianni Calignano etc. ) at Fashion festival Budva. In 2010 she did her fashion design course at Instituto Europeo di Design in Milan. In 2012 she finished her master studies in fashion design. Since then , she has been actively showing her collections. Inspiration is traditional wear from Boka bay , where she comes from, with a modern twist and cuts. She is mainly inspired by men’ s wear traditional uniform , especially by captains and generals uniform where she transforms masculine cuts into feminine pieces. Lot of hand made details are used in her collections. She focuses a lot on details and cuts , but keeps the form of the garment simple and elegant. Her last Spring-Summer 2018 collection ”Military Glam” is inspired the the dukes of Montenegro and was shown at Mad Mood in Milan, during Milan Fashion Week this September 2018. Apart collection, she is also doing custom made clothes for women and men, too.
NIKKI HENDRICKS
The youngest and only African-American designer of 28 chosen to appear in New York’s Fashion Week, was suddenly recruited to appear in Milan, with designs described as “incredibly fresh and different.” The reluctant designer is here to impress, and to unite people in fashion. The twenty-three year old phenom recently graduated from the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), but fashion chose her. Offered scholarships at several colleges for filmmaking, Nikki first aspired to be a filmmaker. But all that changed when she developed a fashion line in 2015, called L’Oshun de Marine for a college class. Six local presenters asked to show her line, plus DC Fashion Week. The next year she developed, “the Blends.” She was invited to four more shows, then to the New York and Paris Fashion Week. A star was born. Nikki Hendricks uses bold patterns and eccentric materials in her designs. She draws inspiration from the futurism genre for her style and underlying content about race, religion, gender and sexuality. She has a fine arts background and works conceptually when creating themes for her lines. The exploration of different culture and identities are consistent within her collections. Nikki Hendricks Designs includes looks that are gender neutral, masculine and feminine. “There is a global diversity trend transcends race, gender, size or sexuality. It defies the hate and division around us. That’s what I try to capture in my fashion. The colors and textures of fashion, in its most pure form, are what binds us, even in the most difficult of times.” Nikki Hendricks started her collection “The Blends” by interviewing 16 models of different religious, racial, and sexuality backgrounds about their cultural identity. With the global political and social atmosphere becoming more divided, despite the gains in diversity, the purpose of creating this line was to help people see what collectively unites them. She asked the models such questions as “what do you do with your family on a Sunday afternoon” and surprisingly there were similar answers. She also asked what symbol best represented their cultural identity, then she designed a pattern incorporating most of what the models chose. The pattern is meant to look abstracted from far away but up close one can see each of the symbols. The use of vinyl and neoprene were aesthetic choices to dress up the basic designs. She is working on lines for larger “real” women, and was asked to develop a specialized line for clergy.
ROSES OF THE QUEEN’S DOG
Roses of the Queen’s Dog is a Bulgarian fashion brand based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The brand starts its life in March 2017 with poetical, flamboyant collection under the brand’s name. ROSES OF THE QUEEN’S DOG is a poetical, enchanting and picturesque collection named after the label. Perfectly beautiful and mystically surrounded with thorns, the rose protects, when entangled in barrier walls. Here is where the symbolical connection with the contemporary person is represented. Lost his ground under his feet, uncertain and somehow destined to imperfection. Colors of red, blue, white, yellow, green and brown form three dimensional pictures and the style is a fresh youth eclectic between the vanguard, sporty and classical patterns with a fresh wink. The presentation of the collection is inspired by the beautiful allegoric Dutch still lifes from the 17th. century. The topics of the opulence, of the magnificence and the general transcience in the world are now represented by the modern design which reverts the sent messages.
ODYSAY
Founded in 2015 in Geneva, ODYSAY was born with a wish: to make every important moment of a woman’s life more sumptuous. The ODYSAY silhouette has a distinct look: dresses are cut to clean and minimalist lines. Styles are deliberately uncluttered. Distinctive embellishments add surprising, delightful and highly feminine accents. The result is a dress of sensual and timeless elegance that favors lasting style over fleeting trends.
All ODYSAY pieces are designed in Switzerland and crafted in small ateliers in Europe. Geographical proximity allows for a tight quality control but also provides a ‘responsible’ approach to manufacturing. Each piece is created with carefully sourced natural materials and the finest fabrics.
Soňa Šidalová Barras, the designer behind ODYSAY, presented some of the pieces of her new SS18 collection at the Mad Mood Milan Fashion Week on Sunday, September 24th. The featured brand is a luxury, yet approachable ready-to-wear evening wear and bridal label based in Geneva. Quality, style and a strong sense of feminine aesthetics are the cornerstone of the brand’s DNA. ODYSAY’s collection features ultra-feminine dresses that are infused with sensual and timeless elegance. The collection is inspired by the theme of light and movement: floating fabrics and transparencies are central elements of every design, allowing for a total freedom of movement without compromising comfort and luxury. Transparencies and metallic touches introduce subtlety and luminosity to each piece. The designs are almost like a second skin, easy to wear, suitable for the everyday life. The color palette touches all pastel shades - pale pink, light green, lilac, sometimes glittered with gold threads - and evokes a midnight walk through an enchanted garden. The collection focuses on the use of lightweight natural silks, sourced from the finest UK, French and Italian suppliers: ‘I like to create pieces that are paradoxically quiet and modest and surprisingly bold: dress intended to be worn time and again, to retain their appeal and grace over the years’ explains Soňa, the founder and designer of the brand.
NOVANA STUDIO
Designer Nataliya Kholodylo has worked in area of Ukrainian fashion for long time. She worked with prominent Ukrainian brands and several years ago has founded her own studio. Now she works as an independent creator of female clothes for her label NOVANA STUDIO, based in Lviv, Ukraine. Her Spring Summer 2018 Collection is for independent women with a strong personality. The looks are soft and color palette is composed by white, black and red.
