The young Portuguese couturier's committed first collection has earned him a place among the finalists for the Festival de Hyères 2023 at Villa Noailles. Focus on a talent to watch.
"Hermaphrodite" is the name of Tiago Bessa's graduation collection, which explores the concepts of gender and inclusion. A critical and personal exercise in social construction and the pressure of a binary world. This former graduate of Modatex in Porto, who also completed an internship at Viktor & Rolf, selected materials in reference to his origins in Guimarães, still a very conservative region of northern Portugal. Fabrics in the line of ceremonial garments, while introducing latex. Through these pieces, the young designer asserts his identity, opening up new avenues for the younger generation in their difference. "Hermaphrodite is a term I've been linked with for a long time. Growing up, people used it to make fun of my non-binary appearance, so it was a matter of directing my anger in a productive direction," he declared after the announcement of his appointment. "In this collection, I decided to further explore intersex people [the impossibility of being classified as male or female, ed. note] and, therefore, familiarize myself with the non-consensual surgery that intersex minors undergo. Hermaphrodite takes a stand against this act of genital mutilation."
Daring creations
Using the orchid as a source of inspiration and a metaphor for sexual organs, Tiago Bessa presents "deconstructed versions of ideally perfect parts". A way of commenting on the damage caused by corrective procedures on bodies that are already valid and beautiful. Abstract forms are thus revealed as anatomical, with translucent guimpe suits and flesh-colored corseted dresses, designed with triangular sections of fabric that overlap like the petals of an orchid. Like a hermaphroditic flower. The collection also tells Tiago Bessa's family story, a tribute to the time he spent in the workshop of his model-maker mother and seamstress grandmother, where he took his first steps in the world of fashion. " Their technique is very... traditional," he explains. "They know how to model and sew according to the rules, and my work is a deconstruction. It was important for me to know how to sew and model, and then get to where I wanted to go." This first creation won him the ModaPortugal fashion design competition in 2021. Today, he is one of ten finalists in the prestigious Hyères Fashion, Photography and Accessories Festival, to be held this October.
