Kasia Kucharska x Ellesse

In 1959, when he founded Ellesse, Leonardo Servadio had a brilliant intuition: to bring tailoring techniques to the design and production of sportswear. In this way, the tailor had anticipated the concept of Athleisure. Focusing first on skiwear and then on tenniswear, the man led his company to success and created innovative items such as the Jet Pant, a ski pant with padded knees and a wide leg that fits a ski boot, to then become, according to the Pompidou Centre in Paris, a symbol of Italian design.

After a long period of oblivion, the brand, acquired by the British holding company Pentland Group, is ready to return to the center of the contemporary fashion scene. Highsnobiety asked three emerging talents to revisit and custom some of the SS19 collection items to celebrate Ellesse's heritage and underline its timeless modernity. The most interesting project is that of Kasia Kucharska. The young Berlin-based designer chose to adapt some men's pieces to the female body, breaking down, for example, the classic tracksuit to create an outfit that can be worn as a dress or as a skirt of modular length and size. She explains it herself in an interview:

They are unique sizes, but still customizable. I particularly liked the soft fit, colors and technical fabrics of the tracksuit: my reinterpretation of the Fighter jacket and Typhoon trousers is an example of my vision. 

Her interior design studies in Stuttgart and Japan and a Master's degree in Fashion Design from the Universität der Künste in Berlin gave her the confidence to experiment with production techniques that allow her to overcome the boundaries of design and shape the future style as she imagines it. Guided by the motto The future is now, Kasia took inspiration from classic tailoring elements and the archives of the Italian brand and reworked them with a modern and hyper-technological approach to obtain three modular and multifunctional outfits with versatile styling. 

I wanted to create practical garments that adapt to different occasions of use by simply combining them with the clothes we already have in the closet. - The styling of my lookbook reflects this: it is the garment that adapts to your needs, not the other way around. 

Kucharska knows what she wants, even in her future. Her projects after this important experience with Ellesse? To continue to experiment as she did at the University and explore technologies and new directions.