After watching “Stay with Me. Adevărul meu te va răni,” I left the show with a head full of questions about gender, tradition, and the ways fashion can provoke. MEDEEA’s collection felt precise and unpredictable, and I found myself replaying certain images in my mind, especially the opening look. I was genuinely curious to hear how these choices came together and what stories or tensions lay beneath the surface.
So I reached out to Medeea for a conversation, hoping to get a glimpse behind the scenes and understand what drives her creative decisions.
Here’s our conversation.
The choice to start with a female model in a moustache stood out. How did you arrive at that image, and what kinds of interpretations or contradictions did you want to play with in opening the show this way?
The intended effect was precisely to provoke this kind of question. But, if you allow me, I would like to ask one in return: what is the masculine form of “dandy”? This movement was an exclusively male one, and the presence of the moustache is a slightly humorous and ironic response to today’s political ideologies. Masculinity and femininity have become the terrain of a cultural war, and this aspect is reflected in the opening of the MEDEEA show.
The blue was a highlight for me, though you used it sparingly. What guided your decision to limit its use?
Here, it is really about the color grey. It is the appropriate chromatic middle ground to aesthetically synchronize the collaboration with the metal accessories created by the artist Marta Mattioli. The collection is exclusively non-chromatic: black and a little brown. That grey is the necessary point of “light” needed to “open up” the collection.
I think headpieces have become a recurring motif in your finales and seem to carry significant symbolism. What do they represent for you, and how do you see their role evolving in your future collections? Are you interested in pushing this motif further, or do you see a new direction?
Our clothes are garments that cover us. They cover everything we want to hide. But they also reveal what we want to be seen, what we want to let show through. In essence, they function as a form of evolutionary ornament. Yet clothing, depending on the context, can transform into ritual garments. At that point, the garment becomes part of a different logic. That is why the headpieces at the end of the show are an invitation to enter a different cultural and aesthetic logic.
Out of the classic runway show and the vibe at the closing party, which one actually feels more like you? Do you ever feel boxed in by tradition?
The tradition of the suit is the most “conservative” one. It is the symbol of power that men have been refining since the 18th century. That is precisely why the suit is the key piece around which the entire economy of the MEDEEA brand develops. So tradition is not a trap, as long as you do not let yourself be suffocated by it. It is, in fact, an opportunity. Nothing is born purely from the present. There is always a root somewhere.
Was there a moment while you were working on this collection where something just clicked for you, maybe something you hadn’t planned, but when it happened, it felt like it belonged?
These kinds of moments always happen. Ultimately, these “unexpected” moments are essential to developing a mature and free process. I like that. Things are always evolving and transforming. That fluidity is my little secret in developing a collection.
Images courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week.