“The Long Island Sound” is the graduate collection of Florence-based designer and Polimoda alumni Emilia Genova. From a young age she seeks refuge in her own phantasmagorical world as an antidote to her surrounding post-communist and uniform Bulgarian hometown.

Using simple draping and construction techniques, the collection presents statuesque pleated garments characteristic for their fluid and ever-changing silhouettes. The concept of the designs originates from Aristophanes’ depiction of love in Plato’s “Symposium”. According to the myth, all humans were once double beings, two bodies synched in one. Angering the Gods with their excessive power, they were cut in half and condemned to spend eternity looking for their missing halves.

 This desperate need for unity is reflected in the shell-like forms of the clothes that act as soft cocoon. Abstract pleated elements are layered onto simple constructed pieces in a lonesome hug. Each outfit stands alone, representing a half of the separated couple, yet all the elements of the collection are able to intertwine or even fit two people simultaneously because of the expandability of the fabric. The wearer is free to create a whole new complex silhouette by uniting different pieces, creating a living collage.

The color palette is strongly influenced by the paintings of Edward Hopper and Guim Tiò, often depicting a peaceful state of solitude. Images of couples dancing in the 40’s and 50’s were also used as a reference, as their moving bodies look like one distorted person, recalling Aristophanes’ tale.

This collection is an ode to the pleasant torture of falling in love, and an invitation to escape to an imaginary world of myth, shape and color in the face of our cacophonic daily life.