Unveiling the first of our featured designers

Mandy Sharabani is part of our international contingent. She trained at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy where her final collection focussed on optical illusions, particularly relating to the absence and presence of glass in modernist architecture.

Entitled ‘A Fools Paradise’ which draws attention to self-delusion, the collection took optical illusion as a main theme; a dress that looks a dress, but actually is a reversed coat. Colour fields of flocked velvet and color graphics combined with hard graphical lines, all enhances the effect of optical illusions even more. Mandy says "I like to confuse people at first and then make them look closer at the piece to understand it more." She approached the theme of optical illusion with a sense of playfulness- reinterpreting classics like the classic coat and the suit jacket.  

Mandy collaborated with Eva van Aalst who produced the beautifully contradictory shoes pictured here with Mandy's garments.

A special 'flock technique' to creates color gradations on top of the fabrics.

This application creates even more confusion and reinforces the illusions.

We were struck by the way that Mandy used layers of optical illusions in her collection and built confusion and ambiguity into the very silhouettes of her garments.

This silhouette turned out to be a top with skirt, the suggestion would be a dress, while its a dress with a jacket that looks like a skirt.

The full collection.

Mandy is currently managing Henrik Vibskov pop-up shop in Amsterdam and working on a new collection, which we can’t wait to see!

Find out more about Mandy here


Watch a video of 'A Fool's Paradise' here