Rafaela Pestritu recently graduated from MA Fashion Womenswear at Central Saint Martins. Her MA 22 collection entitled ROM/Falsified Nostalgia traps her Romanian roots to create a new identity-”East European Couture”. Her relatives accounts of everyday life under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s oppresive regime and Romania’s far from peaceful transition from communism in 1989 were key driving points in the conceptualization of her collection ‘designed beyond a time period’ and aimed at developing a hyperreality.

Dramatisation of ‘sportswear- the cheap migrant worker’s attire’ is Rafaela’s silhouette for the season.Plays on gathered fullness echo with the idea of misinterpreted Romanian identity where the smoothness of the fabric has dissapeared. Condoms, watches, cigarette buds and Rom bar wrappers moulded in resin are used as embellishments on garments capturing the very essence of this nostalgia that she finds inspiration in. A successful attempt, the collection surpassed barriers of misconstructed notions while representing the several narative layers of prejudice.