RFW New Wave Competition

Alexandra Mocanu

Alexandra Mocanu, an emerging fashion designer, is a graduate of the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Fashion Design Department. She seeks to innovate the creative process through the use of unconventional techniques and materials, to which she assigns new meanings, different from their original ones. With a passion for modern technologies and materialities unconventional to the field, she challenges conventions and invites the audience into a process of introspection through metaphorical structures.

Her creative process is influenced by contemporary trends such as deconstructivism, transparency, controlled volumes, and innovative textures. She succeeds in combining the tradition of conventional tailoring with contemporary technological means, such as 3D printing. Her creations are contrasting in nature, addressing the structural diversity of materials, the tension between rigidity and fluidity.

She does not view the garment strictly as an aesthetic product, but places special importance on the entire manufacturing process. From pattern development and material selection to construction techniques, she believes that successful design must take into account adaptability to the human body.

Each collection represents a conceptual approach that starts from a clear theme, translated into coherent silhouettes and pieces that communicate through form, detail, and materiality. She aims to create garments that not only complement the wardrobe, but also convey a visual and emotional story, reflecting strength, elegance, and individuality.

Her collection “Arena Is Everybody” is a visual investigation in fashion that explores gender boundaries and discrimination in sports. Through its experimental approach, it proposes a blurring of modern stereotypes through provocative stylistic statements. The aim of these juxtapositions is to challenge the discrimination of women in the sports world, traditionally dominated by examples of rigid, harsh masculinity lacking sensitivity. The collection also proposes a non-binary approach between sexes, rarely encountered in the sports world, where one is usually forced to choose between feminine and masculine.

Ariana Stanciu

My name is Ariana Stanciu, a fashion designer passionate about exploring sculptural forms, textures, and visual expressiveness. I work at the intersection of fashion and art, transforming each piece into a tactile and visual experience that communicates emotions and ideas through detail, material, and construction.

Textures represent the central element of my creative practice, and natural leather is one of the materials in which I invest the most time and attention. Through the manipulation, treatment, and modeling of leather, I develop unique finishes that give volume, depth, and character to each piece, transforming the material into an artistic and innovative expression. This approach allows me to explore contrasts between strength and delicacy, between sculptural forms and freedom of movement.

My creative process combines aesthetic research with technical experimentation. I test different materials, combine unusual forms and textures, and constantly seek new ways to construct garments that are both expressive and functional. My pieces aim to capture attention, convey a mood or emotion, and create a unique experience for the wearer. The handcrafted textures become my visual signature—a distinct language that makes each creation recognizable and unique.

My vision is for fashion to be a medium of artistic expression, where every detail, surface, and silhouette contributes to a coherent, unique, and memorable story.

Cristian-Gabriel Mierla

Cristian is a fashion designer trained at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Fashion Department. His practice focuses on reinterpreting classic menswear through formal, material, and conceptual interventions. He often works with boxy silhouettes, altered proportions, and details that shift the relationship between the body and the garment. His main interest lies in the connection between identity, social norms, and visual expression.

His graduation collection, titled mono, explores masculinity as a unified experience shaped by tension between vulnerability and rigidity. The project starts from the classic men’s suit, seen as a symbol of authority, control, and social conformity. The designer alters this structure by shortening trousers, expanding volumes, and simplifying lines in order to reveal the fragility hidden within traditional forms.

The collection includes 12 outfits made from natural materials in warm beige tones. The limited palette supports the idea of continuity and uniform identity. A key element is the use of rust printing, a process that transfers oxidized traces onto fabric. This technique introduces the notion of controlled decay and transformation over time, reflecting the social pressure imposed on the masculine body.

Through mono, Cristian proposes a critical reading of the suit as a cultural tool. The project does not separate toxic and sensitive masculinity. It presents them as simultaneous expressions of the same identity structure. The collection functions as a visual study of tension, adaptation, and the possibility of redefining contemporary masculine norms.

Diana Arhire

SPEED is a contemporary fashion brand founded by Romanian designer Diana Arhire, built around the idea of deconstructed elegance, precise tailoring, and emotional storytelling. The brand explores the balance between structure and freedom, creating garments that empower identity, confidence, and presence.



Rooted in menswear tailoring yet designed in a genderless way, SPEED garments adapt to diverse body types and personal styles. Silhouettes combine strength and fluidity, while each collection develops its own universe, where clothing becomes a carrier of emotion and experience.



An essential part of the brand’s DNA draws inspiration from Romanian traditional heritage, translated into contemporary tailoring and modern construction techniques. SPEED works exclusively with natural materials such as leather, wool, linen, and cotton, many of them sourced and crafted in Romania through collaborations with local artisans and ateliers, supporting responsible production and craftsmanship.



The brand focuses on small-batch production, made-to-order garments, and made-to-measure services, encouraging longevity and emotional attachment to clothing. Rather than following trends, SPEED creates timeless pieces designed to last both aesthetically and functionally.



In recent years, the brand has gained increasing international visibility, supported by Diana Arhire receiving the Designer of the Year award at Istituto Marangoni Paris in 2024, as well as through runway presentations and events across Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, and Dubai. SPEED is steadily evolving into an independent brand with a clear identity and growing international presence.

Vladiology

VLADIØLOGY is not a collection.

It is a state.
A movement.
A form of art that refuses to remain confined to a wall.

Born from the visual universe of VLADILA, VLADIØLOGY represents the natural extension of a brand that has approached drawing as a cultural language. The concept begins with art in motion, not as a metaphor, but as expression in movement. The original VLAdiLA artworks, initially created for interiors, step beyond architectural space and enter a new dimension. The work expands. The surface transforms. The statement remains.

Driven by the desire to extend its product range and translate its entire body of work beyond the wall, VLADiLA transforms its patterns into wearable art. Garments become the medium of a strong, recognizable, and fully assumed visual identity. Each piece is conceived as a sculpted object in motion, where silhouette, print, and proportion work together to create immediate visual impact.

We do not explain. We do not ask for validation. We let form speak.

Aesthetically, VLADIØLOGY explores the tension between classic and contemporary. Ornamental motifs, architectural graphics, iconic stripes, and fluid volumes are recontextualized into a current, urban, assertive language. A bold aesthetic built to be seen and remembered. A wardrobe that functions as a statement, not as a backdrop.

VLADIØLOGY speaks about beauty as a necessity. About garments that assert their presence. About pieces that transform the wearer into an appearance, not a consumer of trends. Each look is a complete visual declaration, coherent on its own and powerful as a whole.

Through VLADIØLOGY, VLADILA extends its identity beyond interior design and becomes a complete cultural universe. Patterns that once lived on walls now walk through the city. The brand evolves from a creator of spaces into a creator of presence.

The VLADIØLOGY creative team brings together complementary perspectives and international experience. Elenis Sima contributes a solid foundation in fashion, strengthened through professional training in Cluj-Napoca and Shanghai, an experience that shapes a contemporary and well-articulated aesthetic direction. At the same time, the creative fusion between Oana Vladila and Oana Mirea generates a powerful visual dialogue, where artistic vision, graphic construction, and sensitivity to volume converge into a coherent and recognizable language. The result is confident, expressive, and memorable. A creative approach that refuses to stay in the background.

VLADIØLOGY does not come to explain what it does. It comes to show.

Art in motion. Quite literally.

Sebastian Păunescu

I am Păunescu Sebastian, a young designer at the beginning of my journey, guided by a sincere desire to transform fashion into an authentic form of artistic expression. My passion for this field began in childhood, when I felt a natural attraction toward creativity and aesthetics. I started by creating handmade accessories and jewelry, experimenting with different shapes, materials, and techniques. Those early explorations laid the foundation for my current path and marked the moment I realized that art would become an essential part of my identity.

I graduated from the Faculty of Marketing and later continued my studies with a Master’s degree in Fashion and Costume Design at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. My educational background combines the strategic rigor of marketing with the sensitivity and depth of artistic practice, offering me a complex perspective on how creative work can communicate effectively with its audience.

I love art in all its forms — from painting, sculpture, and photography to film, music, and performance. For me, fashion is not an isolated field, but a meeting point of multiple visual and emotional languages. I constantly seek to intertwine different branches of art within my creative process, exploring textures, volumes, concepts, and symbols that go beyond the conventional boundaries of fashion design.

Each collection I develop starts with an idea, a feeling, or a question. I do not simply create garments; I build visual narratives. I want my pieces to convey a message, provoke reflection, and create an authentic connection between the wearer and the viewer. For me, fashion design is an act of communication — a dialogue between interior and exterior, between identity and society.

At the beginning of my career, I see every project as an opportunity to grow and define my artistic voice. My goal is to build a coherent and recognizable universe in which fashion becomes more than a product; it becomes experience, message, and emotion.

Maria Constantin

Maria Constantin is a Romanian designer whose practice sits at the intersection of scenography and fashion design. Her artistic journey began at the Nicolae Tonitza High School of Fine Arts, where she developed a solid foundation in composition and visual language. She continued her studies at UNATC, in the scenography department, an experience that shaped her spatial and volumetric thinking. Currently, she is completing a master’s degree in fashion design at UNArte, where she deepens her research on the body as an expressive space and clothing as a form of visual construction.

The Maria Constantin brand develops as a natural continuation of this dual specialization. Its approach is based on a scenographic perspective on clothing, in which garments are conceived three-dimensionally, with attention to structure, proportion, and the dynamics between body and space. The influence of theater is not expressed through excessive theatricality, but through compositional rigor and a keen interest in atmosphere.

A central element of her work is its narrative dimension. Like a performance, each collection is conceived as a coherent journey, with a beginning and an end, in which individual pieces function as sequences within a unified construction. The evolution of forms, volumes, and materials follows an internal logic, generating a visual story that unfolds gradually.

Her creations explore the relationship between identity and representation, between interior and exterior, maintaining a balance between artistic expressiveness and the functionality of contemporary garments. Maria Constantin’s practice is thus defined by the articulation of a personal language situated between two forms of expression — fashion and theater — and by continuous research into how these can coexist within a coherent visual discourse.

Lorena Ion

Lorena Ion is a Master’s student at the Fashion Department of the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Her creative journey is built upon the exploration of contemporary directions. By crafting garments that compliment the human silhouette, she highlights the essential balance between structural lines and the fluidity of form.

Her debut collection, ANOD, marks her entry into the world of fashion design. It defines the aesthetic foundation of her artistic process, exploring minimalist elements inspired by the architecture of sailing ships. Her creations emphasize a dedication to clean volumes, reinterpreted technical details, and the use of natural fibers.

Through meticulous attention to tailoring and construction, she aims to create pieces that merge visual expression with functionality. Thus, each creation becomes not only wearable but also intended to evoke an emotion, a mood, or a symbolic concept.