Dezeen School Shows: a playful fashion collection designed to reflect childhood nostalgia is among the projects from this year's Designblok selection.

Also featured is a collection inspired by philosophical theory, and another rooted in the aesthetics of Japanese design concept wabi-sabi.

Designblok, Prague International Design Festival

Competition: Designblok Diploma Selection International Competition

School statement: 

"The Designblok Diploma Selection talent competition, organised by the festival in cooperation with the EUNIC Cluster Prague to support and promote graduates of European universities, will celebrate its 11th edition in 2025.

"From 197 submitted projects, the international expert jury has selected thirty finalists from 12 countries and 19 universities, who will present their graduation works to the public and jury during Designblok 2025. The final will feature 15 product design graduates and 15 fashion design graduates, with product collections displayed in an exhibition format and fashion collections presented through runway shows.

"The winners in both categories will receive a financial reward of €1,000 to create a new collection, which will be presented at Designblok 2026. The winners, as well as the second and third-place finalists, will also be invited to present their work at the next edition of the festival.

"The Designblok Diploma Selection 2025 Awards Ceremony will take place on Saturday 11 October, at 7pm at the Nová Spirála Theatre, in the presence of the international juries, journalists and curators.

"The full list of winners will be available on Designblok's website.

"The partners of the Designblok Diploma Selection for 2025 are Hornbach, ELLE and ELLE Decoration."

Frivolous Cartoons by Kári Þór Barry

"Silly images have been a part of human history for a long time, from frivolous and exaggerated cave paintings to whimsical and funny animated comics like the Looney Toons.

"Cartoons have a very particular aesthetic, partly thanks to the use of caricature – the act of mocking and imitation.

"The project's aim is to explore the origin and unique aesthetic of cartoons as a framework for storytelling, specifically how this aesthetic can be effectively translated into the world of fashion."

Student: Kári Þór Barry
School: Iceland University of the Arts
Email: karithorbarry[at]gmail.com

Becoming My Alter Ego by Mascha Berger

"How we see and are seen shapes how we act and present ourselves, both offline and online.

"Becoming My Alter Ego explores how fashion navigates this feedback loop between digital and physical identities.

"The collection combines digital techniques like CAD, laser cut and 3D-printing with traditional tailoring and embroidery, using vegan deadstock materials and recycled PET bottles.

"Amid shifting values and multimedia overconsumption, it restores strength and comfort while celebrating digital fantasy."

Student: Mascha Berger
School: Berlin University of the Arts
Email: berger.mascha[at]web.de

In the Corners of a Circle – a Fashion to Play by Kim Gemmink

"This project is a critical reflection towards systems and beliefs. A 'fashion' collection without defined looks and a 'game' without a winner.

"Both are related to a context which sets the outlines and draws the 'rules'. It is about finding possibilities within limitations.

"Here, the aim is to find new ways of dressing through collective experimentation. This is an invitation to play."

Student: Kim Gemmink
School: Royal Academy of Art
Email: gemminkkim[at]gmail.com

Duality of Light by Youngjin Choe

"When I was young and going through psychological and mental hardships, my father told me: 'the pain that exists in the world has various widths and depths'.

"It is not noticeable on the outside and its size cannot be predicted, so no one can understand or sympathise with the pain.

"However, light can fill that wide space, so I will become your light and fill your pain.

"That's why light is the most inspiring thing to me and I started researching light, particularly its position in Korean culture."

Student: Youngjin Choe
Course: ArtEZ University of the Arts
Email: yj922740[at]gmail.com

Silent Functionality: The Evolution of Pockets and the Minimalist Design of Leather Accessories in Synthesis with Garments by Ludmila Kopecká

"Inspired by the historical development of pockets, the fashion collection combines functionality and aesthetics within a minimalist design.

"It explores the pocket as a subtle yet significant space that merges naturally with the form of leather accessories and garments.

"The thesis also integrates the designer's various projects created after completing her bachelor's degree, each contributing elements to the collection's final concept."

Student: Ludmila Kopecká
Course: University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem
Email: kopecka-ludmila[at]email.cz

Dancing in Tune with Oneself and Others by Lieu Le

"Dancing in Tune with Oneself and Others explores how garments can embody mindfulness and mutual care – between body and cloth, maker and material.

"Crafted from discarded materials like Norwegian factory yarns, deadstock kimono silk and plant-based dyes from onion skins and coffee grounds, the collection transforms waste into form.

"Inspired by Vietnamese garments, each piece values attentiveness, integrity and the quiet poetry of what is often overlooked."

Student: Lieu Le
School: Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Email: lieu[at]lieule.com

Kini, Kitsch and Krypto by Leon Sebastian Leiß

"King Ludwig II of Bavaria is a dazzling figure in history, yet an essential part of his identity is often left out: his homosexuality.

"This bachelor collection retells Ludwig's story through a queer lens.

"Symbols and artefacts from gay history are interwoven with Bavarian costumes and military uniforms, opening up an alternative reading of his legacy."

Student: Leon Sebastian Leiß
School: Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design
Email: sebastian.leiss[at]icloud.com

In Lies We Trust by Lucas Park

"In Lies We Trust is a menswear collection that challenges how we view power and fashion. Using the American cowboy as a metaphor for politicians, it reveals how both mask manipulation behind heroic imagery.

"Sharp tailoring is disrupted by bold details to expose hidden truths, while contrasting fabrics and ironic colours reflect deception.

"Merging fashion, politics and satire, the collection shows that clothing can be both visually striking and socially meaningful."

Student: Lucas Park
School: Amsterdam Fashion Institute
Email: lucas97717[at]gmail.com

Approximations to the Acrobatics of Flesh by Andrea Rehbein

"Using deadstock fabrics, the project explores abstraction as a tool, and craft as the language of individuality.

"Engraved pieces generate sculptural forms, later embedded into archetypal patterns. These disrupt traditional silhouettes, creating garments in flux where identity, space and body interact.

"Fashion becomes a site of becoming, reflecting on the instability of subjectivity, form and human boundaries."

Student: Andrea Rehbein
School: Swedish School of Textiles
Email: andrearehbeing[at]gmail.com

Oboro-Tsuki – Misty Moonlit by Taiga Sato

"A quiet fracture became the origin: 'you're not Japanese anymore.'

"This collection unfolds identity as a state of tension between cultures, gestures and memory. Rooted in the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, the garments embrace imperfection and transience.

"Each silhouette echoes a collapsing body in dance – held, folded, not finished, but alive. Raw seams, wrinkles and asymmetry become traces of becoming.

"Like forms dissolving beneath Oboro-Tsuki – soft, uncertain, suspended between shadow and self."

Student: Taiga Sato
School: Polimoda
Email: taigasugano8[at]gmail.com

Wild Before Seven by Konrad Sumera

"Wild Before Seven explores the tension between childhood imagination and adult expectations.

"Inspired by Astrid Lindgren and the Peter Pan Syndrome, the collection blends nostalgic forms with ironic proportions.

"Handcrafted details, playful textiles and emotional symbolism make this project a rebellious manifesto of sensitivity, offering garments as shells for the inner child."

Student: Konrad Sumera
School: Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Email: konradsumerawork[at]gmail.com

The Dress Diary by Hana Valtová

"The Dress Diary collection explores clothing as a historical artefact.

"The inspiration comes from the book The Dress Diary by Kate Strasdin, based on the diary of Anne Sykes which documents textiles and fashion of the 19th century.

"The project analyses material layering, silhouettes shaped by undergarments and period techniques.

"The garments, tailored for the figure of Anne, reinterpret historical principles in a contemporary context using both traditional and experimental methods, including collaboration with the company Knit-tex on knitted fabrics and corset construction."

Student: Hana Valtová
School: Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
Email: hanka.valtova[at]seznam.cz

Becoming by Charlie Winkel

"The collection explores the fluidity of identity, the dreams of a child and the reality of becoming.

"It navigates the space between innocence and experience, offering a reflective journey that questions how much of our past shapes our future.

"The juxtaposition of youthful wonder and present self-awareness reveals both the constancy and transformation within us."

Student: Charlie Winkel
School: ArtEZ University of the Arts
Email: charliewinkel[at]gmail.com

I Will Wade Out by Mayar Mohammed

"Exploring culture as an operating system and the ways in which meaning is constructed, Mohammed's first collection – inspired by Plato's Allegory of the Cave – meditates on stepping into uncertainty and practising agency.

"The act of dressing becomes a practice of externalising inner change in response to new observations.

"I Will Wade Out becomes a declaration: a never-ending dialogue about the willingness to embrace the unknown, to wander at the frontier of all that is yet to be revealed, a continuous inner pilgrimage."

Student: Mayar Mohammed
School: ArtEZ University of the Arts
Email: mayarshakeb111[at]gmail.com

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Designblok. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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