Fragmented Nostalgia

Dinara Atayeva is a London based fashion designer graduating from the MA Fashion Design course at the University for the Creative Arts in September 2025. With over 10 years of experience in the luxury fashion industry, including 4 years in product development, her work blends sharp construction with personal storytelling. Her graduate collection, created under her brand concept Formae, reimagines childhood memories of Soviet school uniforms into futuristic silhouettes for modern professional women. Dinara focuses on dartless construction, layering, and string detailing, using hand techniques alongside digital tools such as Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop to develop clean, expressive forms. Inspired by architecture, surrealist art, and the contrast between control and softness, her designs aim to challenge expectations of femininity in luxury fashion. Before returning to study, she worked with brands such as Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Phoebe Philo and Temperley London, where she developed a deep understanding of craftsmanship and the creative process. Through Formae, Dinara is building a design world where structure meets emotion and where uniforms don’t conform, they empower. Fragmented Nostalgia is a womenswear collection that reimagines childhood memories of Soviet school uniforms through a futuristic, emotional lens. The collection explores the tension between discipline and freedom, using dartless tailoring, layered silhouettes, and delicate string details to express a fragmented but empowered identity. Developed through hand-drawing, collage, and digital tools such as Procreate, the project blends traditional and modern techniques to tell a personal story of transformation. While this collection was created without 3D software, it lays the foundation for future work that will incorporate Clo 3D to further explore structure, fit, and innovation in luxury fashion.