Fashion Design: Olivia Lottersberger embraces her Austrian heritage
- Design
- Fashion
Olivia Lottersberger, a fourth-year student in the bachelor’s course Fashion Design in Arnhem, is presenting her graduation collection. The effervescent Austrian native has taken a dual, personal and artistic, dive into self-discovery over the last 4 years of study. She has developed her own attitude towards fashion, which is: “just have fun with it!”
Tradition meets raw expressionism
Olivia, described by her teachers as an open-minded mix of “light-hearted Austrian tradition and raw expressionism,” initially chose the Fashion Design course for its nuanced focus on fashion as a creative rather than commercial outlet. A self-proclaimed theory nerd, Olivia appreciated the equal weight of theory and practice in the course. Olivia: "That's a nice aspect of our bachelor’s course. We have a significant research component, so when you begin your design process, you bring a lot to the sewing table."
Unlearning what you know
Olivia's favourite year of the course was the first, because of the experimental component. “It was all about unlearning what we thought we knew about fashion.” That mindset became Olivia’s mantra. Olivia: “You study a lot of art in the first year, which is very stimulating. As a result, you learn a lot about yourself, even if you aren't fully conscious of it."
Fashion developments mirror self-discovery
Olivia says she used to work more monumentally when she first started the course, preferring more blunt edges and blocky pieces, characteristic of her firm yet loving Austrian cultural heritage. As the course proceeded and homesickness set in, she began to delve deeper into herself: "what makes me, me, where I approach things from, and why?". In doing so, I explored my relationship with my home country, especially now that I had the cultural contrast living abroad. My fashion impulses changed as my understanding of myself as an Austrian abroad changed. I became interested in traditional handwork like lace as well as silhouette, and my theoretical graduation file focused on how fabric can positively or negatively shape a silhouette.”
Corona resourcefulness
The corona pandemic inspired Olivia’s education and thus her fashion approach. During the lockdown period, which lasted from the second semester of her first into the end of her second year, Olivia got creative in finding textile material while stuck inside. “During lockdown, we had to make garments out of anything we could find. I became interested in handwork, since it’s small-scale. I crocheted nonstop for 2 months. I took every wool sweater we had and undid all the knitting for extra yarn. Then when I ran out, I’d go to all of our neighbours, asking for any extra wool their grandparents may have had left over from knitting.”
This resourceful attitude has influenced the methods that she applied to her finals collection too, which is made almost entirely of fabrics Olivia already had or sourced second-hand. "I rarely bought new fabrics since I trusted my own taste. Before I started sewing, I looked at what I had and decided what I wanted to make. That approach is something I picked up throughout the Corona period."
“Everything is fair game”
Olivia hopes that her final collection – a mixture of blocky, almost sculptural pieces mixed with experimental knitwear and Austrian traditions – can be made into a clothing line in the future. Overall, what Olivia hopes most to achieve with her finals collection is a message of accessibility and light-heartedness. “Anyone can wear [the collection],” she said. “You don’t have to be a supermodel. Fashion has a reputation as something only for beautiful or arrogant people, but it’s also very versatile and fun. It can also just be about playing around; everything is fair game!”
