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Aug 08, 2023

The 16 Most Exciting Emerging Designers on Earth

By The Editors of GQ BRAZIL Designers: Pedro Andrade and Paula Kim Founded: 2021 The São Paulo brand tinkering with fresh fabrics for a luxe, futuristic interpretation of modern streetwear. If you

By The Editors of GQ

BRAZIL

Designers: Pedro Andrade and Paula Kim Founded: 2021

The São Paulo brand tinkering with fresh fabrics for a luxe, futuristic interpretation of modern streetwear.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Andrade: The O.N. waterproof suit. You’re gonna be chic but also prepared for an adventure.

If you could have designed the wardrobe for any film ever made, what would it be?

Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. If I could sum up this movie in one word it would be finesse. You feel the density of all the layers, almost silently.

What’s the best feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

A customer once said, “You’re like a time machine. When I wear [Andrade’s first brand] Piet, I transport myself to some nostalgic place, but when I wear P_Andrade, I feel like I’m in the future.” That’s what fashion is about—real sensations.

What goals do you have for the brand over the next five years?

This year we started our global expansion project. I feel that through my creations, I can bring the world a new vision of Brazil, seen from a different perspective, perhaps. In five years, I would be so glad to have contributed in an effective way to the fashion industry, uniting technology, innovation, and sustainability to design.

GERMANY

Designers: Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient Founded: 2016

The Berlin-based designers bringing a punk approach to couture tailoring, upending long-held ideas about fashion, gender, and sex appeal.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

Gadient: The current state of the world feels very amplified and uncertain—like it’s shifting and no one knows in what direction. It feels like it’s a moment to reflect on our way of living and dressing.

Bösch: On the other hand, we love nature. It’s a constant inspiration, as there’s beauty and perfect imperfection. The goal is always to achieve a collection that can translate this “perfect imperfection.”

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Gadient: Maybe one of the accessories, like the bags or glasses—they’re the most effective if you want to change a look immediately with only one item but keep the overall vision.

What's the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

Gadient: That they feel supported and heard, and love to be part of the Ottolinger world.

Bösch: That the clothes make them look better.

What goals do you have for the brand over the next five years?

Gadient: To expand the Ottolinger universe, sharing a world that makes everyone stronger and more self-confident. We can’t wait to show our new collection.

SPAIN

Designer: Alejandro Gómez Palomo

Founded: 2016

The gender-bending brand putting Spain’s most stylish men in ethereal outfits of ruffles and tulle.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

I thought back to my childhood, when I would secretly explore my mother’s closet and playfully experiment with various garments, using blankets, towels, and even her heels. It was about that intimate moment of discovering fashion without any preconceived notions of gender or boundaries—a celebration of joyful fashion.

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

That they have never felt more beautiful than while wearing our pieces—and that’s not limited to just one customer. It’s a recurring theme: Wearing Palomo transforms the wearer’s attitude and confidence.

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

“Like a Virgin” by Madonna. The song’s portrayal of innocence and freshness served as an inspiration throughout the design process. In the collection, I aimed to capture that naivete and purity.

If you could dress any person, alive or dead, who would it be?

Steve Lacy. I think he’s the most stylish and beautiful man right now.

THAILAND

Designer: “Best” Patipat Chaipukdee Founded: 2007

The artistic upcyclers who’ve made a name transforming discarded T-shirts into singular statement pieces.

Who do you design clothes for?

We want to make clothes for people who understand their own character and seek something special in the items they choose, people who appreciate the uniqueness of each vintage item. That’s the eternal charm of the clothing we create.

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

“Myth” by Beach House, a song we often played in the studio while developing the collection. They’re not straightforward. They have a mystery that can be interpreted in various ways.

If you could dress any person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. With their unique and extravagant style, they normally dress themselves, without the assistance of stylists. If Dry Clean Only were to style them, the experience would surely bring them back to the nostalgic vibes of the ’90s.

ITALY

Designer: Luca Magliano

Founded: 2017

The Bolognese label bringing a vibrant new perspective on cutting-edge fashion to the traditional world of Italian style.

Do you have an ideal customer in mind when you design?

People who have a ritual and a mysterious approach to life.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

The Italian provincia: those peripheral areas that are not cities yet not countrysides, the place of work, where a struggling natural landscape hosts a cement workshop, but also where folk culture meets underground culture, where there is not even a pinch of bourgeois vulgarity.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

The first memory of design that I have is a mermaid tail made out of crepe paper that I made with my older sister. I wanted to be a mermaid so badly, and she took care of that fantasy. I owe her a lot.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

A vest with millions of pockets to have everything with you all the time. A piece of clothing that is better than a home.

If you could have designed the wardrobe for any film ever made, what would it be?

Risate di Gioia [The Passionate Thief] by Mario Monicelli from 1960. There’s a scene where Totò and Anna Magnani get ready for New Year’s Eve as seen through the genius of Monicelli.

If you could dress any person, alive or dead, who would it be?

I’d pick at least two: Virginia Woolf and Sandro Penna, one of the greatest Italian poets, who spoke of gay love.

UNITED STATES

Designers: Jin Kay and Dylan Cao Founded: 2018

The über-stylish New York duo blending ’80s Asian style with downtown flair to create a new vision for American sportswear.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

Kay: The SS19 Fanny Skirt—a wool pencil skirt with the waistband emulating a fanny pack, like those worn by our mothers in the ’80s, which has become a core detail of our trousers and denim today.

If you could make and sell only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Cao: The shirt. It’s a staple, it’s also a type of uniform, it’s versatile and transcends seasons. It can be corporate and seductive. It’s so basic, but timeless at the same time.

If you could have designed the wardrobe for any film ever made, what would it be?

Cao: Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her. The outfits are such a good blend between periodic/traditional and the homogeneity of the late ’90s-–early 2000s, which is quite similar to our approach with Commission.

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

Cao: “Rebirth” by UVB. It’s dark, fast-paced, and a little sweaty. It almost feels like you’re coming out of a rave, changing on the go, and running straight to work, which, to us, is the energy of downtown and midtown New York.

MEXICO

Designer: Laura Carrillo Olin; Cristina Lourenco (CEO) Founded: 2014

The cutting-edge Mexico City duo playfully deconstructing classic tailoring silhouettes.

Who do you design clothes for?

Carrillo Olin: Confident men. Men with their own sense of style, men with an open mind who do not subject themselves to single categories or genres.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Carrillo Olin and Lourenco: We love the design of our shirts because they are unique to the brand—unisex and timeless. They can be used at any time of the day and for any occasion. The shirt has style and soul, and it reflects this in the person who wears it.

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

Carrillo Olin: When I was 10 years old, in 1993, the term poser was being thrown around. In Mexico you couldn’t like rock or metal at the same time as liking cumbia or salsa. I was always torn between these genres—I didn’t want to be seen as a poser. The new collection is a reflection of that, a joke where I finally unite the genres. The soundtrack would range from Appetite for Destruction to the classics by La Sonora Dinamita.

If you could dress any person, alive or dead, who would it be?

Carrillo Olin and Lourenco: María Félix, a Mexican actor at the height of her fame in the ’40s who was known for making conservative Mexico uncomfortable. She was confident, crazy, intelligent, and direct—a pioneer.

PORTUGAL

Designers: Reid Baker and Inês Amorim Founded: 2017

The Porto-based brand channeling classic American suiting and old-world European flair.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

Baker: The autumn-winter 2023 collection we titled Grandma Chic. We looked at how the aesthetic and dress codes of elderly women could be reflected into classic menswear.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

Baker: Flare trousers.

Amorim: A double-breasted peak lapel blazer based on the blazer my dad wore to his wedding.

What’s the best feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

Amorim: Recently, a customer told us he admires our brand because he felt empowered to be himself, as we have been true to who we are since the beginning. That was very gratifying.

What’s your dream collaboration? Who is another designer or artist or even brand you’d love to work with?

Amorim: A collaboration with houses with a strong heritage yet authentic and unwavering brand DNA.

LEBANON

Designer: Eric Mathieu Ritter Founded: 2018

The Lebanese designer who has created one of the Middle East’s most beloved brands through a community-driven ethos and healthy dose of rebellion.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

Absurd details that grab my attention. Headlines, news, anything triggering I feel like echoing or amplifying. Clashing patterns, prints, and textures.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

The first piece I ever made for Emergency Room was a shirt cut out of a printed bedsheet from when I was a kid.

If you could make and sell only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

I launched the brand with a series of unique patchwork denim-cut jackets embroidered on all seams that I paired with hand-crocheted bedazzled balaclavas. I’ve never stopped reinventing these two pieces, reinterpreting them season after season.

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

Seeing my designs on close friends randomly on the corner of a street always makes me smile. There’s something both gratifying and humbling in seeing people adopt a piece of me in such an intimate way.

UNITED KINGDOM

Designers: Saeed and Katy Al-Rubeyi Founded: 2013

The Brighton-based label championing slow fashion, using locally sourced fabrics—and explicitly asking you to buy less clothing.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

Saeed: We’re inspired by a lot of the same things other designers are—workwear, outdoor, and vintage clothing. Where I think we diverge is what we take from those things—we appreciate naive art, wobbly details, and evidence of handwork where it would usually be hidden.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Katy: Depending on the day you ask, I think our answers would be different! Today it’s our Lush Pants. They’re a great fit, can be dressed up or down—Saeed wears his to do the garden but has also worn them to weddings. They’re simple, but the silhouette is just challenging enough to create an interesting outfit.

What’s the best feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

Katy: The best thing is when someone says they love their item, have worn it for years and it looks broken in: worn, repaired, and totally different from the day it was bought.

TAIWAN

Designers: Richard, Michael, and Steve Hsieh Founded: 2020

The Taiwanese brothers whose retro-futuristic designs nod to their love of ’90s hoops and their fisherman father’s workwear style.

Who do you design clothes for?

Steve: I design our clothes for sports enthusiasts who are forward thinkers.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

A varsity jacket. They’re the ultimate honor on a sports team, and I’d always dreamed of having my own version of one.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

Our Bill warm-up shirt. It’s a perfect Namesake way of upgrading a basketball warm-up by adding more unique pattern-cutting and craftsmanship.

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

“Too Bad I Have to Destroy You Now” by Kid Cudi. Autumn-winter ’23 was about a terrifying childhood memory of mine. This song gave me the power to fight past those experiences.

What’s your dream collaboration?

Ralph Lauren would be epic. It’s my dad’s favorite brand. He lives by it, from clothes to even furniture. I’d love to take our spin on it.

FRANCE

Designers: Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh Founded: 2017

The duo whose “Caribbean couture” has brought a new vision to sustainable design, with dresses cut from kelp and suits made from ocean-waste plastic.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

Herrebrugh: We researched vodou as a worldview. The connection between the living and the spirits, the earth, the land, and various bodies of water is important, in that all work together to seek balance and restore harmony and rhythm. A continuous flow of energy was key in the creation of the collection.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

The jacquard coat. I love the texture of the fabric—you can feel the warmth of the makers’ hands. The materials are very innovative: The yarns are made from 50 percent algae and 50 percent cotton.

What’s the best feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

“Never expected it to be so comfortable!” We’re constantly thinking about how new materials, technology, and timeless thinking can push the boundaries of fashion. But just as important is a garment’s fit and how it moves around with your body. Fashion is there to fulfill human needs.

INDIA

Designer: Divyam Mehta Founded: 2009

The Delhi designer fusing traditional Indian craftsmanship with a modern, global aesthetic.

If you could have designed the wardrobe for any film ever made, what would it be?

The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan. I see him breaking the rules of handcrafted suits, with embroidered linings, tonal kantha jackets, pashmina knits, and shibori resortwear.

If you could make only one item of clothing from your collection, what would it be?

An unlined, hand-tailored, hand-quilted [kantha] jacket. In West Bengal, we have this tradition where every mother makes a hand-quilted shawl for her daughter’s wedding, rendering it with folk art manifesting good luck, longevity, and grace. We want to capture this spirit and bring it to a modern-day wardrobe.

What would be a dream collaboration for you?

I recently discovered the work of London-based artist Shezad Dawood, who works across disciplines—paintings, textile art, film, and VR. It would be great to collaborate on a VR experience that shows our craft, the culture, and history of our artisans.

JAPAN

Designer: Prot Founded: 2021

The visionary designer upcycling vintage denim scraps into trucker jackets, jeans, and wild masks that are also singular works of art.

Who do you design clothes for?

All my pieces are made to order, so I design for the person who orders it.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

I’m inspired by products that are used, like vintage. The items that are personalized and reflect the owner’s personality.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

The first clothing I designed was inspired by a space suit when I was in art school.

What goals do you have for the brand over the next five years?

I’ve been influenced by American culture since I was a child—subcultures like Marvel Comics and Magic: The Gathering, basketball, hip-hop, Harley-Davidson, workwear, military wear, et cetera. In the future, it would be great if we could have bases in both Japan and the US and actually create works in America.

TURKEY

Designer: Selen Akyüz Founded: 2018

The designer whose draped silhouettes, durable fabrics, and natural palette are creating a new kind of timeless Turkish style.

What are your main inspirations for the collection?

The soul of the collection comes from the streets of Istanbul. I spend days there like a tourist, taking pictures of what people wear, what kind of fabrics they use; I get lost in historical buildings, textures, and time.

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

One of my customers wanted me to design a jacket for him that was a wearable masterpiece—he wanted me to create art on his body. I decided to divide the pattern into 28 pieces and connect them all with one-centimeter fabric notches. It was kind of a puzzle. I made it with 100 percent wool. When he first wore it, he said, “Oh, God, I can display it at home and look at it with a glass of whiskey in the evening. It is totally a masterpiece.’’

What are your goals for yourself as a designer and your brand five years from now?

Design has a universal language, and every designer adds a color and taste to it. I want to spread the color that I am adding with people all over the world. Being in the department stores, working with sustainable manufacturers, collaborating with talented people, I want to share my design aesthetics and create a total experience for everyone.

AUSTRALIA

Designers: Larz Harry and Aida Kim Founded: 2016

Practicality and permanence are at the heart of this Perth-based brand, which relies on Japanese fabrication with industrial design.

Who do you design clothes for?

Harry: People who appreciate enduring garments, are not precious about their possessions, and rely on them continuously.

What was the first piece of clothing you ever designed?

Kim: The first piece we did was Shirt-1 in our waxed cotton chambray with slotted army buttons.

What’s the best feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

Harry: “I wear this every day.”

If your fall ’23 collection had a soundtrack, what would it be?

Kim: Field recordings of all our different workshops. Harry: This season we have specialists for working on the leather outerwear, the down, the nubi, the waxed chambray, the hand-knit. It would be the sound of their mills.

What’s your dream collaboration?

Harry: Definitely Toyota. I’ve always admired people’s dependency on the Land Cruiser and how the vehicles have held up. It would be an honor to collaborate on an LC76.

A version of this story originally appeared in the September 2023 issue of GQ with the title "GQ Presents The Designers of the Future"