For the autumn/winter 2021 shows in London, Fashion East curator Lulu Kennedy offered her platform to five diverse designers, exemplifying the progressive backbone of London’s emerging fashion talent, and Albanian designer Nensi Dojaka was one of the stand-out designers of the line-up.
When Dojaka's eponymous brand emerged in 2017, Helmut Lang's halcyon days were ringing in our ears. Cobweb-thin straps held together by tiny metal rings and fasteners string together organza patchworks, tiny, layered dresses are held to the body by lace up strings. Off-beat silhouettes are the focal point, and stand true to the brands DNA. While Dojaka's latest AW21 collection - which was part of London's talent incubator Fashion East's autumn/winter 2021 line-up - carries the brand's same avant-garde sentiment we've grown to know and love, it's as though the brand is growing up, and has found its stride.
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A stray away from her signature mostly black collections, terracotta and fuscia inject AW21. a nod to a 2016 Serpentine Gallery exhibition of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint’s sculptures. “Her work is a lot about shapes that I love — something more graphic, a play between the curves and straight lines,” Dojaka says. While her use of colour is certainly more obvious than previous seasons, she notes that it has always been present. “A lot of the pieces have layers and layers of sheers, so when you see it in person, it’s almost as if it has all these different shades,” she says.
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Layered over the top of shirts and dressed that are held together by what feels like minimal means, tailoring is an exciting addition to Dojaka's repertoire. Double pleated trousers paired with tuxedo jackets take centre stage, while signature organza bodices underpin the tone of the collection. Dojaka's work is evolving before our eyes, and it's clear to us that the brand will expand as swiftly as it came into the limelight.
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