Moscow-born designer Sonia Trefilova taps into her dreams for inspiration.
Perfect: What does fashion mean to you?
Sonia Trefilova: Fashion is an honest form of self-expression interpreted through silhouette, textile, print, and colour dedicated to the creation of clothing. Fashion is a reflection of society, a way of behaving that is popular at a particular time - we reinterpret the past writing our present. Fashion is a collaborative medium using designers and artists to convey an idea to the viewer through clothing design, photography, art, and performance, in the form of a fashion show. It is a responsibility to the past to pass on cultural heritage through fashion. We live in a world full of information and abundant wisdom of past generations which we can revitalise through fashion.
Perfect: Where do you find the inspiration for your designs?
Sonia Trefilova: I find inspiration from the process. I enjoy working with textiles, I like being challenged when creating. Exploring new ways of hand sewing because it allows more mobility for textile making when using a needle and thread you can make something 3 dimensional which is even cooler. I definitely sometimes overcomplicate the process, I couldn’t crochet and came up with my own way of experimenting with a thread and sewing it together by hand. After that, I learned how to crochet but my process of fake crocheting still looks more exciting to me.
Perfect: What is most important to you when designing a garment?
Sonia Trefilova: I am looking at how nature inspires the design and what natural materials can be used. People in the past used to make very simple handmade clothes out of flax or leaves, linen weaving - so now with all our technologies, we can produce waste-free materials as we have all the knowledge and technological advances for it, like growing organisms or using less water when dying, using natural dyes.
Perfect: Are there any particular design techniques, fabrics or maybe colours that you gravitate towards most? Why?
Sonia Trefilova: Lately, I am trying to pay attention to my dreams, I have been reading about the surrealism movement and it is definitely something that I would like to explore more. Trying to liberate the mind from rational and utilitarian values and limits.
Perfect: What is the best part of being a creative in London?
Sonia Trefilova: I think in London anything is possible. I am very interested in how the relationship between art and fashion design is a very thin line. I think McQueen especially broke those boundaries in having his grand shows almost like performance art. He was one of the first designers to break the boundary of wearable fashion and make it into wearable art sculptures. I like that London is a place where people are not afraid to experiment.
Perfect: What future can we hope to see next from Sonia Trefilova?
Sonia Trefilova: My final collection, which I have been working on over the past year. I have been working on it from my hometown in the suburbs of Moscow, it celebrates Russian domestic craft as it has nostalgic elements to it.
