“Sometimes it’s good to get off the merry-go-round and get on the rollercoaster instead.” Anonymous

When Lara Klawikowski was a young girl, she recalls seeing a fashion piece on Jean Paul Gaultier on television, and remembers how much glamour and happiness lived in him and his work. This moment, paired with her well-dressed Russian grandmother, appealed to her love of fashion and encouraged her to pursue a career in the industry.

Lara uses fashion as an artistic vehicle to express herself and her love of texture and fabric manipulation, to create tactile pieces that become part of people’s lives. With so much interest on emerging designers, locally and internationally, Lara gets excited by the prospects of the platform of fashion, that encourage her to keep on creating.

She feels that fashion is developing rapidly, and needs more consumers, with spaces like the V&A Waterfront housing local designers along international fashion houses. She is inspired by the likes of Josep Font, one of the people shaping the global fashion industry, and the Creative Director of Delpozo. Locally, she is inspired by Jackie Burger and her views of fashion and the industry.

After every Collection, Lara appreciates the feedback from colleagues and clients on how the Collection touched them personally, and how it is a celebration of something unique and new to the industry. She aims to inspire with her pieces and in so doing, elevate South African fashion.

As a young designer, she has found it challenging to find stores and spaces to stock her Collections, and thus sells directly from her studio. Finding fabrics and materials is also a challenge, and has encouraged her to become more resourceful with the execution of her designs.

When she isn’t inspiring, creating or designing, Lara is a yogi, who loves the outdoors, running marathons and eating out with her friends.

Lara’s inspiration for her current Collection was sparked by the historical architecture in the Cape Town CBD, as she was paying a speeding ticket at City Hall. The detail had her mesmerised, and took her mind back to what women would be wearing 100 years ago in urban Cape Town.
With Dutch, French, Eastern and Indigenous influences paired with geometry, Lara’s
Collection is an ode to yesteryear in 2017.

We look forward to travelling back in time with Lara Klawikowski at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town 2017 taking place from the 23rd-25th March.

Follow AFI on Twitter and Instagram: @afi_sa for constant Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town updates as well as show schedules and ticket information.

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