To be at this point and have my first international show at New York Fashion Week in the same year that I had my very first runway show at Zurich Fashion Week feels overwhelming in the best way. I’m incredibly grateful for both opportunities and for how much FRAGILE BASE has been able to grow in such a short time.
Showcasing the brand in New York and being able to share more of my vision, my worldview and the universe behind FRAGILE BASE with an international audience was something very special to me.
The chapter I presented this time was 03 // OUTBREAK.
There have been 8 Looks presented.
OUTBREAK is about restrictions — the ones placed on us by the outside world, but even more the ones we place on ourselves. So often we hold ourselves back, doubt ourselves, or build a hard shell around who we really are. At some point, that shell has to break so that our true selves can come through.
The chapter was inspired by the philosophy behind The Matrix, but also very much by my own life and personal experiences.
Before OUTBREAK came 02 // PROTECT, a chapter that explored protection through spikes, armor-like elements and defensive forms. OUTBREAK is the continuation of that story. It is about breaking out of those protections, structures and limitations we have built around ourselves.
That is why chains became such an important visual element in the collection. They represent restraint, but also the moment of becoming unchained and breaking free. Not necessarily completely free from everything, because I don’t think we ever are, but free enough to move, to breathe, to become who we actually want to be.
That idea is also very personal to me. For a long time, I felt like I was protecting myself under a cover until I finally started breaking out of it and building my own world and vision without being ruled by fear.
With FRAGILE BASE, I’m telling stories through fashion. That’s also why I don’t really like to call them collections, I see them as chapters. Each one continues a bigger story and reflects a different emotional state, idea or part of the world I’m trying to build.
New York was an experience I will never forget. It still feels unreal that OUTBREAK was able to exist there on that stage.
And now that 03 // OUTBREAK is free, I can’t wait to start building Chapter 04 and see where FRAGILE BASE goes next to tell its next story.
All picture credits by Diego Da Silva.
