“…
And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side. In the cold moist earth, we laid her, when the forests cast the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief: Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours, So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.” (B.C.William, The Death of the Flowers)

The beauty of a bud that has yet to become a flower or a girl that lies still and has to be revived, are the images that dominate the collection. There are many ways to awaken the girl: by a prince, a beast, a witch, or by a young woman. All these figures present symbolic promises or threats that are worked into the poetic, dream-like collection. The sleeping beauty is still young after 116 years of sleep, but the beauty is entrapped in medical corsets and high necks. The front of the silhouettes holds the promise of a flower, a blossoming body, but the back is medical and cold. Blood-red seams seep through the collection to conjure up the vital life force. Inspiration comes from different directions: horror and vampire movies, fairytales, the pleated silks of Mme Grès, and sculptures by Pablo Atchugarry. Fragile lace was buried underground and burnt at the edges; pleats conceal openings that present endless promising futures. The collection is both a testimony of loss and a celebration of eternal youth.