Each season, Giovanna Flores’s collections develop from a unique mixture of instinct and chance. Last fall it was the colorful strip on the mop heads that she was working with that “reminded her” of the 20 bolts of printed fabric she had recently come across in one of her deadstock hunts. “If it was only one roll I probably wouldn’t have cared for it, but all of them together were really cool,” she said at the time. As she was working on pieces for fall, she tapped into another unusual object—shoulder pads. “I’ve been collecting vintage printed shoulder pads from the ’80s or whatever for forever and have just been waiting for the right time to use them,” she explained at a preview inside the Vogue offices. “Last season, since I was working with prints, I was feeling like it was the time to use these pieces, but then I realized it was the start of something completely different.”
She started sewing the pads onto fabric and draping them onto the body afterwards, and when she used up all the pads in her collection she began to make her own. Flores used them to make puffy “going-out” tops that were like cool-girl versions of the sequined butterfly halter top made iconic by Mariah Carey in the late ’90s. They were also employed as a dramatic asymmetric collar on a patchworked dress, and in a bit of homage to Rei Kawakubo’s Lumps and Bumps collection as embellishment on an upcycled sleek long sleeve ribbed tee. There they appeared to be hugging or supporting the wearer, among many other interpretations.
Another interesting development came from the construction of the leftover triangle-shaped pieces that were the results of Flores’s experiments with godets, a technique she often favors. She started sewing those triangles together, which resulted in blouses and dresses with subtle volume and romantic shapes, but the highlight this season was without a doubt a softer-than-soft leather bomber, constructed using the same technique. She called it her “star.”
Elsewhere Flores continued experimenting with techniques and construction modes from previous seasons: a sheer top with thin contrasting colorful strips of fabric highlighting the darts, or her dresses and shirts made from collaged deadstock quilting bundles. “I found a place selling bags of quilting squares,” Flores said. “And once I started, I realized that they were grouped together by color, and also that many of them were sort of pre-started vintage patterns that people had begun and then gave up.” She added, “It was kind of romantic in a way, finishing it for them.”