With a high-speed roar, Feben brings her multi-faceted creative energy to Milan as this season’s Dolce&Gabbana guest designer. Duct-tape meets tiger-stripe, hand-made textures meet abundant curves, puffer-coats meet up with sexy dresses on the way to a great night out. True to her Ethiopian identity and her spontaneously can-do spirit, Feben has been firing up London’s young fashion scene since she graduated Central Saint Martins MA in 2020. Her fall-winter show is packed with her characteristically joyful signatures and responses to designing at speed and collaborating with those around her.
The collection took off in the ateliers at Dolce&Gabbana, at her London studio, and in Ghana, where Feben has worked long-term with artisans in Accra, Ghana, who crafted the upcycled plastic beadwork in the collection, decorating chaps, jewellery and bags. “Sustainability should mean that we can shift the fashion system”, she says. “It’s about who you have in your team. How can we change things to give people access? Access and unity are important values – like for me, I’ve never had access to an opportunity like this one”.
How Speed started: “I was thinking how quickly you have to make a collection. You might use duct-tape if you did not have much around. It is ugly, but I thought, just let me find something beautiful in it! I was inspired when I stumbled on how Isa Genzken had fun making duct-tape stripes in colours. I like finding that balance, on the edge of what is ugly. And making it cool”.
How Feben vibed with Dolce&Gabbana: “I really related to the 90s archive animal prints – for me, that is very Dolce&Gabbana!
Signature Twists: “I wanted it to be super-authentic, with my sort of textiles – my Twist dress, which I started in my MA, is created in a new way, in crushed velvet. I’m a curvy woman. It works for many different sizes. That’s really important, because it’s really hard to find cool pieces that make everyone feel great. I want a woman wearing Feben to feel like a work of art.”
Spiky, but not punk: “I was really inspired by the artist Simone Yvette Leigh who made a huge spike dress statue, referencing African architectural traditions. I was like, oh my god, maybe I can make like a soft version of that! We hand- sewed spikes which from afar maybe look as if they’re hard, but it’s actually just made out of mesh”.
Bringing London to Milano: “I live in London, it’s a London-based brand. So, the music for the show is me thinking through the speed of wandering through London. Syd Falls composed SPEED with the sound bites of “Mind the Gap”.
Virginie Pinto Moreira is one of the best hairstylists in the world. She is major, and she’s actually one of my best friends. And we met on the dance floor in London”.
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