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Fashioning Motherhood: Inside DI PETSA's HOLY MILK

Please tell me about the meaning behind HOLY MILK.

 

HOLY MILK is the title of my SS27 collection, which is a visual representation of my ideas around motherhood. It is about the divine nature of mothering. The maternal instinct we all share in the way we mother ourselves, our friends, our lovers. It is also the physical and spiritual transition a woman goes through when she gives birth. When you give birth to a child, you also give birth to yourself as a mother. Almost every religion in the world has a mother archetype goddess. 

 

 

DI PETSA explores colour and texture in unique ways. What has been the journey of exploring these whilst developing this collection?

 

I was thinking of the physicality of motherhood, of women taking up space, and so I wanted to experiment with more volume this season. One key look for me is a draped taffeta gown inspired by pregnant bodies and Ancient Greek drapery. I also wanted to explore the strings drapery technique and see where I can take it. Soft corsetry, where the boning becomes golden ribbons that flow down the legs. I always think of the clothes in terms of poetry. This season I created a digital booklet with some of this poetry and photos of the gestures of draping for people to download from our website to get more intimate with the collection 

What do you hope people feel when they see HOLY MILK?

 

I hope people feel moved. I hope the mothers who will walk the show feel powerful and sensual. I hope the people watching this collection will be able to enter this world where I explore motherhood as a concept. It’s more a feeling in the heart that I want to create. And have the opportunity to express a subject that is very overlooked in our culture and in fashion specifically. 

 

What has been your approach to reinterpreting your iconic "wetlook" dresses for this collection?

 

This time I am looking back at my classic white wetlooks, the ones from the birth of DI PETSA. They are reinterpreted by the women wearing them. There is one model, Constantina, who was one of my first muses, walking the show and now she will be walking the show with her new baby in a white wetlook dress encrusted with Swarovski and a matching baby wetlook for her baby linked together with a draped umbilical cord dripping in Swarovski. 

 

Motherhood is at the centre of HOLY MILK. Do you think the beauty and transformative qualities of motherhood are shown enough in the fashion industry?

 

Unfortunately, no. I don’t think there is genuine interest from designers and we as a society love to put women in boxes and clear cut definitions. Motherhood can be too transformative, fluid and layered for that. But for me womanhood has always been my biggest inspiration and my love for women is what drives me.

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