Collage from Kasia's workbook. Courtesy of the artist.
Lace is one of the foundational pillars of fashion, playing a large role in haute couture, historical royal dress and clerical garments. But the fabric that was once painstakingly made by hand and reserved for nobility has stretched down to even the fastest fashion, leaving frayed bits of exposed elastic visible as it overextends itself. While well-made pieces are still exquisite, there is definitely room to reimagine the historic fabric.
This is what fashion designer Kasia Kucharska focused on for her MA graduate collection from Berlin’s University of the Arts (UdK). Having worked with brands like Balenciaga and Hugo Boss, the German designer took a deep dive into the origins, of lace to created her updated silicone version that, at first glance, seems haphazard and abstract, but on second glance, bears striking similarities to its more traditional counterparts.
We sit down with Kucharska to find out how her graduate collection came together:
Collage from Kasia's workbook. Courtesy of the artist.
What interested you in lace making?
For my collection, I had a deeper look at the history of underwear as predecessor of the shirt. Lace has always been part of the evolution of this garment. When we speak of lace today, we probably visualise a somewhat fusty decorative element mostly found on female lingerie.
In my work, I tried to find new ways of creating lace by hand and to integrate it back into the modern feminine wardrobe. In this particular case, I was curious how one would translate lace with tools, materials and processes that we use today.
What was the original purpose or language of lace?
Lace was a decorative element attached to underwear and ultimately later to the shirt as collar and cuffs. It was loaded with codes and symbols, which revealed a lot about the societal position of its wearer.
Today, most of the symbolism has vanished as the meaning and worth of lace has disappeared with the industrial revolution when carefully handmade lace was replaced by machine-made decoration.
For example, in the beginning of the 17th century the enormous “Mühlensteinkragen” developed in Spain and spread over Europe. It was a stiff collar, supported by a metal under-construction and consisting overall of lace fabric. The cuffs were also folded into big amounts of lace fabric. This big collar and cuffs served to separate the head and hands strictly from the rest of the body in order to point out the most important functions of a religious person: the mind and the prayer.
In my work, I picked out this development and tried to find new ways of creating lace by hand and to integrate it back into shirting and the modern feminine wardrobe.
Collages from Kasia's workbook. Courtesy of the artist.
Have you ever made more traditional lace yourself?
I am a very impatient and lazy person. The traditional way of making lace, the level of endurance and perfection that you have to achieve when you make it by hand is really not for me.
Do you have particular styles of lace that you find interesting?
Irische häkelspitze – Irish crochet.
Every style has its history and purpose. I find them all interesting, especially the evolution of styles is inspiring to my work.
Why work with silicone?
Silicone is a material that is already used in underwear as a hidden functional helper—for example, as a sticky inlay to hold stockings in place. I wanted to take that functional characteristic, make it visible on the surface of my clothes and work with it as ornamentation instead of hiding it.
What’s behind the scribbling?
The scribbling felt like a natural continuation of the status quo, like a post-machine boredom. Despite the abstraction you can still read and translate it as lace immediately.
Check out more photos from the collection below:
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You can find Kasia Kucharska on Instagram under @kasiaku.