Right now, everyone wants a piece of Nensi Dojaka. The young designer is now an LVMH Prize winner, and just staged her first standalone show at London Fashion Week – and this is just the beginning.
With a recognizable aesthetic that is the definition of sexy yet timeless and simple, Nensi Dojaka’s DNA echos through every single piece. But it hasn’t all been easy. The designer had only just gotten her start when the COVID-19 pandemic began and has had to navigate uncertainty to grow her brand.
“At first it was very difficult because I had only just started so it felt disheartening, but also served as a push to move forward and I was determined to get over it,” Dojaka tells us ahead of her anticipated London Fashion Week show. “I started really focusing on the brand development, the product, thinking more about the end-consumers, etc. and then slowly, things started to kick off.”
And by kick off, she really means kick off. With a long list of stockists including Mytheresa, Selfridges, Farfetch, SSENSE, and more, as well fans such as Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa, Emily Ratajkowski, and more wearing the label, no one has missed the superstar that is Nensi Dojaka.
Ahead of her first standalone show, the designer tells us that after a year of only viewing collections digitally, this show feels extra special. “Firstly, it is my first standalone show but I also think [that] there is no better way to show clothes than through a [physical] show. There are a lot of tiny details in my clothes and I was excited for people to see them live this time. The pressure was high, but it felt very exciting nonetheless.”
The collection felt very true to Nensi Dojaka’s aesthetic, but experimented with new colors including pink, red, and caramel tones. Inspired by a picture from a ’60s issue of Italian Vogue, Dojaka created what became the starting point of the flower story throughout the collection, which features in tights, dresses, trousers, and tops. “I was really captivated by the flower detail in the picture and I wanted to somehow bring it into a modern context in my own collection.”
As for her favorite look? The monochrome caramel-toned suit that I’d describe as my ideal definition of a business woman, showing just enough skin and keeping it sexy – both on and off-duty. After seeing the full collection, I genuinely feared for my wallet and bank account because there wasn’t a single piece I couldn’t see myself wearing.
It’s not hard to see why Nensi Dojaka is one of the most exciting young designers shaping fashion, and with her recent LVMH Prize win, there’s no doubt we’ll see a lot more from her. “I am super thrilled and excited for the future and I hope to make the best out of it,” she tells us, and when I ask her what she’s most excited to do now that London Fashion Week is coming to an end, she tells me that she’s, “Already thinking about the new collection.”