Sofia Sanchez

Sofia Sanchez (b. 1995) is a designer and interdisciplinary artist living and working in London. Sofia’s practice is an attempt to articulate female subjectivity and to resist patriarchal structures through satire and re-presenting the politics of the everyday graphically. Her background as a lingerie designer and worker in the fashion industry has influenced and evolved into her current research concerning the female body in contemporary culture, particularly in digital spaces. Her work centres around the use of the feminist poetic imagination, and activism in relation to feminism, anti-racism and anti-capitalism. She is interested in pain and healing as a route to transformative political action.

'Dream-work is my graduate collection from LCF Fashion Contour in 2021. It was inspired by a diary of my dreams that I have been keeping since 2015: I drew images from the diary and translated them into embroidered garments. I liked transparent materials and used black to keep things simple, as the garments themselves were technically complicated, and there were a lot of pieces I wanted to make. This work was my first opportunity to explore my own ideas in a collection, in the degree I undertook. My work has evolved dramatically since then, so in a way, it feels strange to be talking about this collection now. This was an important piece of work for me to do, but I would no longer make work like this again.

If I had any advice for young designers, I would say that it is important to think critically about your education and the long-term effects of your specific work as a designer.

For me, the images reproduce a typical 'fashion' femininity that I am no longer interested in creating. I am currently undertaking an MA in Fashion at the Royal College of Art where I have moved away from the practice of fashion, and am now focussing on fine arts and writing through the mediums of performance and video. I am currently working on a video essay that I will present at the Global Fashion Conference in November which is a critique of the systems that underpin the luxury fashion system. If I had any advice for young designers, I would say that it is important to think critically about your education and the long-term effects of your specific work as a designer. We are living in a time of global crisis regarding the pandemic and the climate crisis, and are in desperate need of radical, not incremental, change in the fashion industry.'

Photographer Designer Sofia Sanchez / @sofia_sanchez_____ / www.sofiasanchez.co.uk

Model Nancy Rose / @the_lizard__queen