Nikolina Boldero

I am a textile and fashion designer based in London. Prior to studying at The Royal College of Art I completed a BA in Textile Design at Chelsea UAL.  I then took a year out in between my studies to work for fashion designers in Denmark and Paris.

I am drawn to the relationship between textiles and the body. My design process is led by extensive research; commonly looking at archival collections, through to sampling and material investigation and manipulation. I like to be surprised and led by the textiles, leaving an avenue for imperfection. My specialism lies in knitwear and embroidery where I use knitting as an expansion to my initial embroidered and mixed media samples.

Over the past year, the focus of my work pivots around knitting due to its ability to naturally curve, stretch and change accordingly to the body. I am fortunate to have grown up surrounded by my mother’s creativity as a womenswear designer. She taught me essential skills such as pattern cutting and draping, allowing me to be able to interpret my textiles in a fashion context.

During my MA I received sponsorship from The Coats Foundation Trust and Shi-Kwan Yarn Company. The yarns were used in my final collection of knitted garments.

Living archive – art of dressing.

Key themes: imperfection, fragility, notion/ritual of dress.

Within my practice I explore the ritual and notion of dress. I feel that within the current society, especially with regards to ready-to-wear there has been increased demand to design fashion to enable a quick and easy process to getting dressed. As a result, there is less of a connection between the textile - garment and the wearer.

With my project, I aim to challenge society through taking inspiration from the 1800s Victorian women’s layering of underwear garments; Shift/Chemise, petticoats, Bustles and engageantes to promote a ‘slower’ act of dressing.

Through the creation of fragile and detailed textiles which can be made up and taken apart, the wearer is able to feel more connected to the clothing they are putting on. They are immersed into the act of dressing through layering, extensive amounts of buttoning and tying.

My collection highlights craftsmanship through the use of labour-intensive techniques. Detailing is a significant feature of my collection; a series of hand covered buttons using knitted samples, and elements of hand sewn construction. I have left some edges raw, with fraying seams to reflect on the beauty of the 'imperfect'.

Another important aspect of my work is the conceptualisation of time in relation to how textiles are and have been made; honouring the use of modern but also traditional techniques and processes. I have used a variety of different equipment to complete the pieces for my collection; majority using the 'Dubied' industrial machine, but also incorporating elements of digital knit – Shima Seiki. All knitted panels were shaped on the machine to reduce the time of cutting and sewing.