Based in Cape Town, South Africa, designer Lara Klawikowski launched her eponymous brand in 2010 and has since focused on avant-garde wedding dresses and wearable high-art womenswear using unusual materials and textures created by hand at her studio. Her love for unusual detail, texture and innovative use of fabric has led to constant experimentation with recycled, upcycled and re-fabricated materials. Klawikowski won the Innovative Design and Materials Award, and the Changemaker Award at the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2020.
Q > What first drew you to creating fashion that is sustainable?
A > The oversaturation of clothing and wastefulness of the industry inspired me to choose a different approach. Making more clothes in a world already saturated with clothing seemed nonsensical. Seeing hundreds of new brands popping up in social media feeds, claiming to be sustainable, when all they’re really doing is making more of the same stuff and flooding the market, made me realise the only sustainable way forward is to either stop and create no more, or create something truly extraordinary and relevant.
Q > What does “sustainable” mean to you and your work?
A > “Sustainable” means creating something original in a conscious way, being mindful of every step of the creative process and constantly questioning the relevance of what I’m designing, how it’s made and limiting waste by creating only what is needed. In the fashion industry, “new” is a major selling point but it has wasteful and devastating consequences. I upcycle recycled materials to create something new and different.
Q > To what extent do external trends influence your designs? How important is it to create pieces that are timeless?
A > I tend to design instinctively. I choose what feels right to me. Design proportions, shapes and colour palettes are dictated by what I have available to recycle, upcycle and re-fabricate. To me, fashion is more about shaping resources into inspiring, beautiful, useful clothes than obsessing over whether I’m on the same page as everyone else.
I’m drawn to organic draping and materials with intriguing textures that sculpt the body to form interesting proportions effortlessly, unforced, unpredictable, with a sense of movement, feminine and flattering. There is a timelessness to this approach and the designs don’t look dated.
Q > What materials do you love working with the most, and why?
A > I love materials that are textured and sculptural, allow for draping and structure, and are still comfortable to wear. I like using unusual materials I’ve created from scratch and every panel of fabric in the design has its own idiosyncrasies. This is a sustainable approach as I find uniformity leads to waste.
Q > Tell us which reactions, questions or perception-shifts do you hope to achieve with your work?
A > I hope to inspire people enough visually so that they are encouraged to look deeper, research and appreciate sustainable fashion design more.
Q > What do you like and dislike most about the fashion world?
A > I love how fashion makes people feel uplifted, optimistic, ambitious and special.
I dislike the wastefulness of consumer culture and the lack of respect, appreciation and care for clothes. I dislike how the convenience of retail stores selling mass-produced clothes has resulted in a disconnect and misunderstanding of the effort and work required to produce clothes.
Q > Where do you hope to see yourself and your atelier in five years’ time?
A > I hope to continue growing steadily by producing thoughtful, sustainable design and employing more South African women to help make the designs. Investing in women is my priority as single mothers are the sole breadwinners in most South African families. Rebuilding the devastated clothing and textiles industry in South Africa has been a problem for many years and Covid-19 only made the unemployment rate worse. Job creation for South Africans is more critical now than ever and keeping work local is my goal.
Q > Tell us about the greatest challenge you’ve overcome?
A > Making a living as an independent designer in South Africa has been difficult, especially with the arrival of international chain stores who sell clothing at low prices. Local designers cannot compete with these mega brands when we are paying fair salaries to clothing and textile workers. Sourcing unique, eco-friendly fabrics has been a difficulty but it has challenged me to be more creative and resourceful.
Q > What’s the most satisfying part of your creative process (and why)?
A > I love creating textured, upcycled materials, constructing a design from them, and seeing the design take shape and come to life on the person wearing it. My favourite part is the surprise and joy when someone discovers what it’s really made of.
Q > Describe the most unconventional dress or outfit you’ve created? What made it different?
A > My latest collection of wedding dresses made from upcycled plastic is most unconventional for bridal wear. I’ve used unusual materials for designs before but the upcycled plastic is more than just something extraordinary to see. It’s design that is wearable, comfortable, washable, user-friendly and truly sustainable. This collection is more than a once-off experiment and I see it evolving into something more.
Lara Klawikowski is a South African fashion designer and illustrator of Polish and Russian heritage. She designs wearable art — bespoke womenswear — handcrafted in her studio which she launched after graduating from the Cape Town College of Fashion Design. Her designs are intriguingly tactile and artisanal, with a distinctive artistry, femininity, edge, and other-worldly beauty. She employs unpredictable pattern-cutting and garment construction, organic draping and proportions. During her studies, she won a number of awards including the prestigious Durban July Young Designer Award. She showcased her first ready-to-wear collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town in 2013 and was also a semi-finalist in the South African Fashion Week Renault New Talent competition.
