Designers to Hire. Words by Martin Onufrowicz. Her strong interest in fashion emerged early on β Ballardt says that according to her mom, she assuredly declared that she would become a designer at the age of Every year, the school would organise a trip to Antwerp to see the highly regarded graduate show, and when Ballardt went, she was instantly mesmerised by its level of creativity.
For her graduate collection, Catch the Silver I Fling, Ballardt decided to be as personal as possible, and use her archive of analogue photographs β taken over the course of the last 10 years β as a starting point.
The punk influence is also present in the structure of the garments as the collection is built on the tension between sharp tailoring and tearing. Blazers are juxtaposed with spiderweb-like knitwear, and shirts and coats are decorated with applications that are holding on by a thread. Ballardt printed the photographs on the fabrics, and tied her signature diamond-shaped patches into the garments through a string system.
Ballardt says that although the lockdown period in Belgium had its technical challenges, these difficulties helped create a strong supportive network within the course, where all the students would help each other out with materials or contacts for people that could assist with developing the garments. It also forced her to think outside the box when it came to visuals that would accompany and give context for her garments. Ballardt tries to stay optimistic when it comes to the reality of graduating during the COVID pandemic and remains active by working on a few freelance projects.
In the future, she hopes to eventually get a job on a design team within a fashion house and join forces with people who have a different point of view. I can also see myself in a house like Jil Sander because tailoring is one of my strong points.
