About Me
Hi I'm Aleksandra, a Fashion Design graduate from WSA
Aleksandra Dyka is a designer of Polish heritage: Specialising in Womenswear, she strives to pursue a pathway in Haute couture. Being born into a Catholic family, her work imitates her organic movement away from Religion since moving to the UK in 2010, and the influence religion had on her identity. The designs are hand crafted and detail orientated.
I aim to explore the ‘liminal space’ in my work as an overall visual, to represent a dream like state of my childhood existence in addition to the sense of feeling ‘lost’. I’ve decoded an aesthetic in my efforts to portray almost a ‘nightmarish’ connotation, a sterile dreamland setting. My identity felt trapped in a limbo state- not heavens nor hell, not knowing the truth about myself. I therefore named my project "Smoke and Mirrors" which is focused on uncovering the truth about my beliefs.
INSPIRATION
I Photographed the Smoke of Sage as a starting point to my designs
Using reminiscence of the church, I captured the smoke of sage. The fluid forms and layering have influenced my pattern cutting, fabric choice and the colour palette of my collection. As well as the exploration of the colour white and the meaning it holds inside and out of Catholicism.
As a Catholic, the meaning of the colour white is suggested to you as a symbol of purity and new beginnings: Outside of the religion, it intimidates with its continuity of emptiness, and in some cultures suggests death and mourning. This definition is not explored inside the church walls. I developed this idea of escaping into the 'outside' through looks which are revealing and concealing. Using zips, a veil and a mask to achieve the desired concept.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Tech Flats
Tech Flats
Photographer- Billy Allen, Editor- Aleksandra Dyka
DETAIL
I used a Sony DCR SX-33 camcorder to create a nostalgic feel of Y2K
I specifically edited the video to the minimal to create a continuity of shots: allowing for viewer to visualise a raw footage straight from the camera. Using an old camcorder allow me to create a nostalgic feel to the video. As the collection is a representation of me from birth until now, I wanted to mimic the year I was born in. Shots ranged from look to look, and close up of details.
"Smoke and Mirrors" - the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information.
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