Elvan Otgen

Department: Man and Identity
Website: www.elvanotgen.com

Hive Society

“Insects are nature’s most fashionable creatures,” says Elvan Otgen. So why not incorporate their most striking features into fabric? Fascinated by insects’ shiny armour and soft wings, she set about making “a beautiful but soft, protective shell” for modern women. With splashes of metallic hues, unexpected bursts of vibrant colour, graphic patterns and hairy knits, her Hive Society collection of textiles border on the sculptural, as the patterns leap out from the fabric in prints embracing 3D.