Bianca Saunders makes PFW debut with experimental collection

London-based designer and ANDAM 2021 award winner Bianca Saunders has made her Paris Fashion Week debut, exhibiting an AW22 collection that experiments with cuts, movement and three-dimensional (3D) elements.

Warped check prints make up a number of statement pieces in the menswear collection, creating an almost optical illusion-like pattern over tops and pants.

Wrapping techniques used throughout the line also act as sensory brain teasers, with Saunder applying experimental cutting techniques to create abstract coats and jackets that defy conventional silhouettes. A similar technique is applied to a padded coat that appears as both a pullover and gilet, once again playing with typical visual elements.

Pants also adopt this experimental take on production, shifting the perspective of oversized cuts through technical folds and engineered seams. Even tailored trousers are given a dramatic rightwards shift, taking front design elements into the back and side of the pants.

Oversized sweaters and leather jackets further display Saunders desire to play with cuts, darts and more. Purposeful wraps and slants are created in some pieces in an attempt to follow “a more natural anatomy”, alongside the designer’s signature rolled shoulder design details that have appeared in past collections.

In a release, Saunders said on the designs: “I want the collection to be timeless - it could be now, it could be the past, it could be the future. It’s not just about one person - I want everyone to see a part of themselves in it.”