BANDE DE BITCHES AW 17

Klaudia Stavreva’s autobiographical ‘Bande de Bitches’ collection is characteristic of her highly personal and self-reflective design approach; seeking extremes in order to discover as much as possible, by herself and about herself. Collecting, mixing, sampling and editing, she plays with established elements to create new meaning. ‘Bande de Bitches’ takes inspiration from the documentary The Shutka, Book of Records. Shutka is the self-assured and self-ruled ‘unofficial’ Romani capital of Stavreva’s ancestral Macedonia, where everyone claims a champion title, nevermind what for. It is a unique celebration of the happy inhabitants, the proud misfits. Embracing individual identity, Stavreva’s process involves directly draping the garments on her own body or upon a personal plaster-cast. Pieces were molded step-by-step, layer upon layer, and put through ‘selfie’ fittings until the garment achieved its final form and desired emotional impact.

Extending this artisanal approach to exaggerated embellishments and prints incorporated as shape and finishing solutions, Stavreva combines and transforms body- and material language to create her own language. All garments are executed by her own hand.
 Stavreva’s work engages with notions of value, ripping apart and re-creating the social-political context in which fashion is presented. Injecting her work with unconventional and mainstream references alike, she seeks a New Couture Touch that reflects her personal experience and vision. The German-born designer counts education at the ArtEZ Master Fashion Design in Arnhem and working on the Artisanal line at Maison Margiela amongst her experience to date.

Bande de Bitches

Bags

A classic clutch bag as a homage to the Dutch ladies. Living in a financial future, where money is no longer notes and coins, where you pay by ‘scanning’ your bag. How this handmade bag should look like? I used leather leftovers created by cutting fringes within lengths of hand-cut fringes, bestrewn with mixed spiral-shaped plastic shavings, beads, aluminum powder and partly spilled over with resin to reach complex textures. I wanted to give an extra value by challenging the wearer tactile experience.

Collection

Fringes-in-Fringes-Collar

The ‘Fringes-in-Fringe-Collar Jacket’ plays on materiality and perception. Starting with a leather hide, I sought to reconstruct it in another form; the iconic little ‘fur coat’ à la Courtney Love. Handcraft was important in the process; the desired texture and volume were created by cutting fringes within lengths of hand-cut fringes. I decoded the Jacket’s construction, draping a collar-shape with the fringing so that it appears as the Jacket itself. The fringes are hand-stitched together on a base of sheepskin, fully finished with a hand-stitched silk facing. A silk lining completes the look. The Green Leather Jacket is molded on a personal plaster-cast with one sided detailed breast shape, the left sleeve is hand carved with flower and goose shapes which are partly cut so that it form creates a construction of a sleeve for the arm and hand to slip through. The Peace-symbol on the back of the Jacket is made of Resin, filed with plastic shavings and metal powder. This idea of individual pieces is important to the collection: how they can interact.