Seven emerging fashion designers to name-drop this year
Meet the new kids on the block.
[N]ew Year = a roster of fresh young talent to keep on your radar. From the Central Saint Martins trained jewellery designer loved by FKA twigs to emerging Brit streetwear labels we’re all over right now, Hunger picks the new kids on the block to watch in 2018 from talent incubator DECEMBER agency…
M.Y.O.B NYC
M.Y.O.B NYC, standing for ‘Mind Your Own Business’, was dreamed up in Brooklyn, New York in 2009 by fashion design duo, Comi and Tanimi. The two began crafting jewellery and distributing it online, quickly gaining the public’s attention with their unique take on contemporary fashion. M.Y.O.B NYC looks to capture the ongoing blend of NY X Tokyo street fashion. With Japanese roots craftsmanship is at the helm of the brand. Having successful infilltrated the jewellery market M.Y.O.B NYC have grown to produce their own streetwear pieces. This is an exciting extension for the growing brand as they truly begin to cement themselves into the New York streetwear scene.
Self Made
Self Made is a project born from Gianfranco Villegas, a young Filipino-Italian designer. The name of the brand originates from the designer’s turbulent childhood growing up in Florence, Italy, as the son of an immigrant Filipino mother who didn’t enjoy a privileged upbringing. He began to work to satisfy his obsession with fashion at age 14, eventually graduating in 2013 from the Polimoda Fashion School, in Florence. Every piece in Villegas’ collections are hand-crafted in Italy with premium materials and tailored finishing’s. The overall concept is mixing Italian luxury with Filipino American streetwear and hiphop culture.
Conor Joseph
Whilst studying jewellery design at Central Saint Martins College of Art, Conor Joseph was able to explore and take inspiration from an array of inter-disciplines such as film, visual art and sculpture to form unique pieces of jewellery, which he now makes in London’s historical jewellery epicentre, Hatton Garden. Prevailing themes in his work include otherness, fetishism and the macabre. The darkness of his designs juxtaposes the classically British Craftsmanship, to produce beautifully unique constructed items of fine contemporary jewellery.
Irene SJ YU
Taiwanese Irene Shuang Ju Yu founded her namesake womenswear label in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins in London. Having a background in fine art, her work is often inspired by various aspects of art, music, religion, society and cultural environment at large. Her fundamental agenda is to contest the traditional notions of elegance and beauty by creating an aesthetic of hero own. She expects her work to liberate the human body and bring out the character and personality of the wearer. A pervasive theme of the Irene SJ YU label is to empower femininity whilst still evoking a touch of romance and novelty, by transforming these elements into beautifully made garments.
GOLDSPORT
Gold Sport is a streetwear clothing brand drawing from its British roots. Taking cues from 90’s era sportswear, the brands aesthetic combines unapologetic branding and distinctive details. Still waters run deep for Gold Sport’s brooding, introspective new collection. Titled ‘The Surface Collection’. Gold Sport encourages us to look below the surface of sportswear and it’s stigmas, and re-engages with its humble origins.
NICOLA BACCHILEGA
Bacchilega is a versatile designer whose formative background in sculpture is highly evident in his work. The wearable ‘Golden Ceramic Sculpture’ is emblematic of Bacchilega’s proclivity for decoration and detail, and it would seem that the process of creating golden warrior-like armour is as strenuous as designing a seasonal collection; “in order to get a metal effect, the ceramic is fired three times; the first fire is called “biscotto”, the second fire is a white glaze called “majolica”, and the third fire is pure gold and applied with a brush in liquid form,” narrates Bacchilega.
Sample-cm
Grand Bassin the collection by Sample-cm is exclusively handmade in Berlin. The collections combine high fashion with functional design and explore the relationship between user and clothing. The mentality behind Sample-cm is rooted in the designer Margot Charbonnier’s sociology background, which inspires her to bring an interactive approach to Sample-cm’s clothing design. Each Grand Bassin garment functions as a piece of equipment that stretches the body to the limits of action. Accompanied by the label’s signature straps and user-friendly instructions, each piece can be adjusted and transformed by the user, inviting them to experience the clothing as a full-body and personalised practice.