Meet the designer redefining lace for the 21st century

When British comedian and presenter Amelia Dimoldenberg stepped onto the red carpet to interview Sydney Sweeney in 2022, it only took a second for Dimoldenberg’s dress to reverse their roles. “This is amazing,” Sweeney said, reaching out to touch the presenters’ sleeveless black floor-length gown. The fabric — an opaque mass of rubbery spider-like webs — giggled with each movement. “What is this?” she asked. The intricate, lacelike piece (made from 3D-printed latex) was the work of German designer Kasia Kucharska. Sweeney’s curiosity is echoed by the industry. Earlier this year, Kucharska won €100,000 ($102,835) to keep developing her creations.

“It feels amazing,” she told CNN of the win from her studio in Berlin, where she presented her first runway show on Sunday. The German capital’s fashion week — which ran from January 31 to February 3 — was founded in 2007, but grew its international guest list this season by over 40%. Alongside the six-figure grant, Kucharska’s prize from the Fashion Council Germany and Vogue Fashion Fund included the opportunity to stage a runway show and receive mentorship from industry experts on distribution, brand and collection development. “It’s been a ride… The support has been so great,” she said.

While studying at the Berlin University of the Arts, Kucharska became interested in the opulent fashion of the 18th and 19th century — particularly the era’s lacework seen in underwear, shirts, collars and cuffs. Pinned to her studio’s reference board are Elizabethan portraits; scraps of leavers lace in black, white and pink; as well as photographs of historical garments. Lace dates at least as far back as the early 16th century, where it was handmade using a single needle and thread to stitch a delicate pattern or braided using multiple threads, by nuns. Later, heaving Victorian-era steel machines, monitored by twisthands — human machine operators overseeing the twisting, knitting and braiding of cotton into delicate lace — mechanized the industry. This type of lace production has largely died out, with only a few active lace mills remaining. Today, the process can be entirely computerized and automated.

While Kucharska’s final creations are far more unconventional than the hand-woven filigree of traditional lace, the two processes are similar in their meticulousness. She uses a combination of poured and printed latex for her pieces. “It’s handmade,” she said of her materials. “We create in a very artisanal way here in our studio. It’s a very time-consuming procedure.”

Throughout her collections, loopy, abstract flowers provide the basis for a range of designs. Two dense clusters of the spindly florals become a bikini-tie top, worn with an open-front catsuit that looks like it was drawn directly onto the models body. During her most recent runway, Kucharska layered her latex lace tights under shirts, ruched mini skirts and dresses. There is a naïve element to her spiral designs in birthday party colors, like doodles in a schoolbook.

Kucharska calls the looping shapes printed onto the sheer mesh “childish” in the freedom of its form. Because of latex’s malleable nature, her process is “very intuitive and experimental,” she said. “Latex is a liquid material. It’s like milk from the tree. And we work with it in a very raw way, or we give pigment to it and then we pour it.”

From start to finish, each garment can take several days to make — as every piece requires rounds of cooling, drying and washing. But understanding the material has taken years, she added, from refining her techniques to perfecting her recipe, which remains a secret of her business.

Kucharska began to realize the sartorial potential of liquid latex during her time at the Berlin University of the Arts. “It’s an extremely durable material. It’s biodegradable. It’s sustainable. And you just can do so much with it,” she said. Alongside her lacy dresses, which have been worn by the likes of Julia Fox and musician Chloe Bailey, Kucharska also uses latex to build bags from scratch. “It’s really a mono-material,” she said. “I’m trying to think about boundaries, like how else can we do fashion without sewing?”

And for those considering making the leap from their grandmother’s lace to a Kasia Kucharska piece, the designer has some advice: “Embrace who you are, be eccentric, be joyful, celebrate life. Have fun. Be daring, be confident.”