Fashion from the construction site

Mikołaj Sokołowski is a designer living in Paris who creates clothes in line with the ideas of sustainable development. He studied at the prestigious Studio Berçot, and gained experience at the Thierry Mugler fashion house and Balenciaga – during the time when Alexander Wang was there a main designer. Sokołowski’s original brand does not operate seasonally, but it is conceived around the idea of conceptual collections that are resistant to fast fashion trends and the passing of time. It mainly creates men’s clothing, available in limited quantities with deadstock, i.e. textile ‘left overs’ of larger productions, as the source of the materials. In his work, he remains faithful to his roots Silesian, which he keeps emphasizing with numerous references.

The fifth collection in Sokołowski’s merchandise is named “Budowlanka”. It premiered during this year’s winter haute couture fashion week at the intimate Yellow Cube Galerie in Paris. By this group of designs, he symbolically returns to his hometown of Gliwice and the work of his parents operating in the construction industry. We can discover elements characteristic for construction sites – forms inspired by work suits, abstract combinations of color blocks or colors with strong connotations: concrete grays juxtaposed with shades of blue and complemented by magnetizing orange and luminous yellow. The first photos promoting “Budowlanka” were taken by Marek Chorzępa in a warehouse, where the designer’s mother works on a daily basis.