MARIANA LADREYT

Scholarly by nature, Marianna Ladreyt, who is of Cypriot and French blood, enjoyed theoretical studies in art and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris before making contact with the practice doing Fine Arts. When she realised her work was constantly relating to the human body and its movements she had to find out what fashion and clothing is really about. “I like this original, strong approach of wearables. What is it? What does it mean?” A recurring theme in Marianna’s work is ‘trompe l’oeuil’, illusions that, if only for a second, trick the eye and make us aware of our subconscious reflex to interpret sensory information. This relates to her fascination for the Greek toga, a flat piece of fabric that is just knotted somewhere to create its volume, that is there to protect and serve the body, its beauty universally recognized. No stitches. “For my thesis, I did research on the ‘flâneur’, this poetic figure of the stroller, the observing and contemplating wanderer who never stops trying to understand the world. What if it were but a décor with changing sets? In my graduation collection, the flâneur became a true adventurer and the togas got stitches. »