Carina Georgescu
Keywords: Connection, Community, Hope
Internship: XIMONLEE
“The world is a delicate spiderweb holding us together.”
In an era marked by fragmentation, socio-political and ecological turmoil, The Traces Left investigates the human longing for connection, intimacy, and continuity. Rooted in personal emotion yet resonating universally, the collection reflects on what it means to feel held physically and emotionally when the world feels unstable beneath us.
Nostalgia serves here not as sentimentality, but as a strategy: a means to access shared memory, to reframe the past as a source of resilience rather than retreat. I began my process by thrifting vintage clothing, specifically garments that feel timeless and recognisable, like shirts, trench coats, sleeping gowns, and tank tops. These are pieces that have been around for generations and are already infused with narrative. Using these as my base allowed me to ground the collection in memory and familiarity. From there, I started to play with the idea of physical and emotional closeness. Through processes of deconstruction and reassembly, I created silhouettes that embrace: garments that wrap, fold and cocoon the body, invoking the quiet gesture of a hug.
Transparency, layering, and softness become visual metaphors for vulnerability and strength. Florals, sheer fabrics, and tactile surfaces explore how the body can be both exposed and protected. Clothing becomes not only adornment, but a conduit for emotional memory, a vessel for the invisible traces we leave on one another.
Ultimately, The Traces Left asks how we carry those traces gently, silently, persistently in what we wear, in what we remember, and in how we choose to care.
It’s an invitation:
To pause.
To feel.
To take a breath of life.