Feeric Fashion Week reaffirmed its status as the international most creative and transformative fashion week. A backdrop of unexpected settings; emerging designers, leading universities, and established brands unveiled collections that fused sustainability, identity-driven narratives, textile innovation, and a level of visual poetry rarely seen in fashion today. After two days of workshops, motivational talks, and professional panels focused on the future development of talent and the educational side of fashion, the shows of its 17th edition begun.
Day 1 – SUSTAINABILITY WEARS ITS MANIFESTO
Hooldra × Cardinalia – “Timeless Threads”
More than a runway show, it was a visual manifesto for sustainability. Hooldra showed its fifth manifesto as part of the Feeric Hub project, using second-hand garments carefully deconstructed and regenerated. The result: refined pieces with a strong 1960s influence, reimagined by fresh voices in European design. The staging featured a striking textile waste container. The runway came alive with the presence of Cardinalia Models, reinforcing a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Wijnruit (United Kingdom) – “OP:1”
Designer Jewel Kaye debuted with a collection centered on collective memory and identity. Upcycled materials such as military canvas, lace, wool, lycra, and custom prints shaped structured silhouettes in a modular play: cropped jackets, detachable sleeves, and an aesthetic that reconfigures fragments of the past into a contemporary narrative.
UFEG (Ukrainian Fashion Education Group) – “TextStyle”
A deep reflection on culture and identity in times of war. This collection blends text and textile: modular garments conceived as “shelter suits” that adapt to the wearer’s mobility, symbolizing resilience and scattered authenticity.
Newgiza University (Egypt)
A surrealist proposal inspired by dreams and the subconscious. Fluid silhouettes in recycled fabrics, satin, and velvet orbited around an enigmatic muse, challenging traditional beauty standards.
New Bulgarian University (Bulgaria)
A group collection exploring transformation, emotional resilience, and poetic beauty. Drawing on influences from mythology to Baroque and alchemy, the designers used lace, silk, velvet, chiffon, satin, and recycled denim to trace deeply personal journeys in each piece.
Almog Pinto Cohen (Israel) – “Under My Skin”
Inspired by her own experience with lipedema, a condition causing physical and emotional challenges, the designer incorporates medical bandages into her collection to reflect the realities of treatment. The work sparks a conversation about visibility, inclusivity, and embracing health diversity in fashion.
University Aurel Vlaicu – Arad
This BA and MA graduate collection draws on childhood memories and mystical rituals, blending folklore, mythology, and personal archives. Handcrafted with embroidery, weaving, and sustainable materials, each piece tells a story of memory, identity, and transformation.
Inside Upcycling Couture (Switzerland) – “Appearance of Transition│Transition of Appearance”
Designer Rachelle Nkou presented her innovative vision. The collection explores metamorphosis through contrasts of light, shadow, and color. Repurposed materials become handcrafted, original pieces that embody resilience, renewal, and transformation.
Wilczewska Emilia (Poland) – “Dom”
Representing the Cracow School of Art and Fashion Design, WE presented a collection inspired by home as a space of safety. Oversized silhouettes and materials like pillows and duvets evoke warmth, comfort, and reassurance.
National University of Arts – Bucharest
The Unarte group collection showcases BA and MA works that explore fashion as visual research and critical inquiry. Each piece blends experimental form, personal narrative, and social commentary, reflecting a new generation defined by creativity and innovation.
Michal Duraj (Poland) – “Escapism”
Representing the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy, his collection draws on The Virgin Suicides and nostalgic summers. Upcycled vintage fabrics and faded tones create a delicate wardrobe symbolizing fleeting beauty and inner escape.s, touching on temples, honeycombs, and female identity in polygamous contexts. Poplin, sheer fabrics, and natural ropes were paired with hair extensions as a metaphor for belonging and fragmentation.
Day 2 – MEMORY, RESILIENCE & NEW FEMINITY
Technical University of Moldova (UTM)
A mature and emotional vision inspired by the poem Luceafărul—themes of solitude, femininity, and astral archetypes. The work stood out for its decorative refinement and the fusion of classic materials with innovative solutions.
Blanka Gotic (Zagreb) – “Obedience in Fragments”
A symbolic exploration of Mormon communities, touching on temples, honeycombs, and female identity in polygamous contexts. Poplin, sheer fabrics, and natural ropes were paired with hair extensions as a metaphor for belonging and fragmentation.
Galala University (Egypt) – “Transformation”
A collective work merging emotions, art, and storytelling. Cotton, linen, wool, and velvet came to life through screen printing, embroidery, and dyeing techniques, creating pieces with an almost narrative presence.
University Donja Gorica (Montenegro) – “Unknown Nature”
Youthful and bold, this collection reflected on the abstract and the natural. Through denim recycling and deconstruction, combined with paint, abrasion, and color layering, the designers crafted one-of-a-kind garments that converse with the complexity of the environment.
National Academy of Art in Sofia (Bulgaria) – “Symbiosis”
An interdisciplinary collaboration between fashion and biology departments. Inspired by natural history exhibitions, the collection explored biodiversity and zero-waste design, blending science and creativity in each piece.
Ioulia Louvari (Greece) – “Heterogeneity”
From Athens Fashion Club, her collection is a celebration of difference and body diversity. Bouclé, faux leather, sequins, and denim came together in hand-made asymmetrical forms, asserting inclusion and symbolic strength.
Coralia Dubou (Romania) – “Error”
From Art Faculty of Oradea University, a post-human vision with distorted silhouettes in synthetic leather and industrial textiles. Exaggerated volumes and modular elements shaped an identity in constant transformation.
Olivia Kobeissi (Lebanon) – “Prism Thinking”
Inspired by the fragmentation of light, this collection fused cracked armor, resin corsets, and contrasting fabrics to speak of strength born from vulnerability—the broken light refracted into beauty.
Verèdia – “Noctera”
The designer presented feminine power in tailored form: structured suiting with subtle accents. Black velvet, flowing organza, pearl embroidery, and sharp tailoring asserted elegance as a declaration.
Dualitae – “The Quiet Icon”
The iconic white shirt is reinvented. Sculptural foundations transformed into fluid silhouettes and sharp contrasts. Powerful minimalism, an identity enduring beyond trends. The new feminity.
Synergia – “Summer is Calling”
The colection by Raluca Elena Cinean is an ode to summer: light fabrics, pastel tones, marine details, screen-printed patterns, and artisanal accessories. A blend of comfort and elegance, identity and freedom.
Day 3 – GENDER, SYMBOLS & DIVERSITY
Paper Dolls (USA) – “Pretty Wreckage”
The designer Natalie Soto presented a narrative of emotional healing. Painful memories reworked into reinvented beauty: recombined shirts, cargo trousers, bubble skirts, and babydoll dresses in reused materials, enriched with artisanal details expressing fractured transformation.
UVT – West University of Timișoara
The collective show is an exploration of collective memory and posthumanity, with bold volumes and contrasting textures. The body and its environment reinterpreted between past and present, fragility and strength.
George Enescu Art University – Iași
A collective show where the visual narrative reimagining tradition, spiritual symbolism, and deconstructive sustainability. Tradition and the future converged in contrasting harmonies.
Mild Power (Lithuania) – “Cuoricini”
The designer presented a ready-to-wear collection with a soul and message. An aesthetic inspired by boxing, using velvet, knit, and raw denim with an iconic heart print—blending strength and tenderness in each garment.
Daiana Stăncioiu – “Unapologetic”
The designer, in collaboration with UAD Cluj-Napoca PhD team, explore the photography transformed into three-dimensional garments. Embroidery, felt, 3D printing, and experimental textiles shaped symbolic, organic forms elevated into wearable art.
IDA & IFM Academy (India) – “Timeless Monochrome Sophistication”
Elegance in black and white. Gender-neutral, timeless silhouettes inspired by duality, creating a visual journey balancing clarity, depth, sophistication, and self-acceptance.
International Balkan University (Macedonia) – “Reflections”
Collection based in sustainable and fluidity: organic cotton, eco-leather, and draping paired with sharp tailoring. Reflective details, asymmetric cuts, and modularity celebrated the sublime and the beauty.
Kaunas University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania)
The university presented two collections. First collection was “Grief” by Kaylee Johnson: emotion in form, with raw, deconstructed silhouettes in recycled denim—garments as silent emblems of resilience. Second collection was “Does She Speak Samogitian?” by Akvilė Bernotaitė: a blend of traditional cultural symbols with modern silhouettes in linen, wool, leather, and transparent PVC.
Viamoda (Poland) – “Gender Reframed”
The students presented a discourse on gender identity: androgynous looks and historical reinterpretations of femininity. Fashion as a space to express, transcend, and challenge binary notions.
UAD – Cluj-Napoca
The BA & MA 2025 graduates presented a collective show where the modern haute couture with historical roots, hightlights the volume, innovation, and sustainable awareness. Capsule collections were crafted in the UADFASHION workshop, using technical expertise and archival materials, reflected a contemporary vision of construction and detail.
Feeric Fashion Week stood as a global international creative laboratory, a space where narratives of sustainability, identity, memory, inclusion, and experimentation converged into garments. Each collection told both personal and collective stories, proving how fashion can be art, activism, and emotional architecture. This week in Sibiu reaffirmed fashion as a universal language of change and reflection and leads the way in tomorrow’s Fashion.
Runway Photos by Cornel Petrus.
Written by Alejandro D Lomas.