Rising design star Roberta Einer talks Americana and finding inspiration in change

[T]allinn, the capital city of Estonia, might not be on a par with Europe’s fashion capitals, but Roberta Einer may be about to put it on the map. The 24-year-old moved to London at the tender age of 14 to pursue a career in fashion, but she still returns to her home country several times a year to gather new inspiration for upcoming collections. And right now, like many young designers, the changing world order has come into focus. “Even in Estonia we now have American troops patrolling because of the close border with Russia. This is what I see and it’s what I’m thinking about, so I’m sure that my work will become more political in coming seasons.”

It was Roberta’s effervescent, candy-coloured cheerleader-inspired graduate collection, though, that caught the attention of the fashion press and strengthened her place as one of today’s brightest new talents. She went to Central Saint Martins after her sister told her that if she wanted to make it, it was the only place to go. “I knew nothing about how the system in the UK worked, I just knew that I needed to go to Saint Martins,” she says, laughing. “Moving to London changed me as a person. I think my first year here formed me. It made me more humble and accepting of everything. Everyone at home thought I’d come running back. Even my school held my place for a year!”

But they needn’t have worried. Roberta graduated from a foundation degree at Saint Martins, before moving on to Westminster, with internships at Mary Katrantzou and Alexander McQueen under her belt. A stint at Balmain then marked a turning point for the previously minimalist designer. “Someone who I used to work with at McQueen had told Balmain about me, so they asked me to come for an interview. But I was back home in Estonia for the summer, so I had to do a Skype interview sitting in my parents’ bedroom in my pyjamas!” she remembers. “After a few days they began the process of relocating me, so I put my studies on hold for a year and a half, and moved to Paris.”

At Balmain, Roberta discovered a newfound love for decoration, intricate embroidery and a maximalist aesthetic, and credits working with the team in Paris for helping her true style to emerge. “Balmain taught me to experiment,” she says. “When designers were questioning a piece, Olivier [Rousteing] might say, ‘Let’s just add more gold, more rhinestones,’ which just made pieces really rich and technical, and drew the eye to that, as opposed to whether something was in good or bad taste. That was one of the main things that I took with me. What was so bold and beautiful about it was being aware of good and bad taste, questioning it and then constantly pushing the boundaries.

“A lot of brands stick to their comfort zone and stop developing. But as a designer you need to be bright and new and, most importantly, different. You have to make people think. That’s what I try to follow now while also being extremely self-critical, to keep pushing myself forward.”

To add to this epiphany, Roberta’s final year at Westminster taught her to pour herself into her work, and she has carried this personal approach into each season. Her dissertation subject too – the third and fourth wave of feminism and social media – is a continuous source of inspiration. “One of my muses from season to season is Jessie Andrews, who is an alternative representation of what a woman should be, which is so different to maybe even ten years ago. She is so self-aware and clever, and the fact that she has been in the adult industry has only helped her.

“I want to create pieces for women who are bold and strong and do whatever they want to do, but who are also fine wearing pink because they realise that a colour isn’t going to define them or make them look unintelligent. Feminism and femininity don’t have to be contrasting things.”

These are smart words from a switched-on designer, and in future seasons we can expect more social commentary from Roberta. So far each of her seasons has been inspired by places in America that she has an affinity with – the Golden age of Vegas, the shallowness of Miami – and given the dystopia that the country has become of late, it’s worth asking how she feels the cultural political climate may affect her design work. Has her inspiration pool been poisoned? Her answer, though, is a simple one: “I will keep looking to America for inspiration because I’m drawn to change.

“The change in the world is inspiring everyone in some way, and it has got people talking. In this day and age nobody needs to buy a £3,000 hand-beaded dress, it’s a big luxury, so you have to think about how to try and make that relevant without being too showy. It’s a tough landscape and it changes every day, but when you get to create something really beautiful and call it a job, it all feels worth it.”

Taken from issue 12 of Hunger magazine, Stand for Something