Lilas Ferdi

Lilas Ferdi, from France, believes clothes can be used as an armour to hide in plain sight. It is a philosophy she uses in her personal life. She wants to design clothing that allows people to express their true nature. For her Graduate Diploma collection, she considers her personal struggle with wanting to disappear and explores the different ways clothing can hide the body. Lilas’ training in creating complex constructions started with her undergraduate degree in styling and pattern making at L’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués in Paris, after which she interned as a creative assistant at a Paris-based brand.

Traditionalist at heart, she references in her design process a 16th century panier dress, known for its voluminous size She adds her own spin on the panier dress by using multiple layers of white tulle, making the underskirt detachable. There is an interplay of textures with velvet in a mustard yellow colour, white silk and copious amounts of white tulle. The underlying message of her collection is light-hearted and playful as she links it to the comic book Where’s Waldo?, which revolves around searching for the main character hidden in the crowd. Although she prefers to meticulously plan her designing process, the pandemic provided her with a challenge. “I'm lucky because I still had my sewing machine and many fabrics with me, but it pushed me to rethink my designs instead of wasting money and fabrics,” she says. After CSM, Lilas is set to go to Parsons School of Design with a scholarship for her Masters.


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Words: Shriya Zamindar
Images: Raminta Ceponyte