Feben Fall 2024 Ready-To-Wear

vogue.com by Nicole Phelps February 25, 2024

The designer showcases Dolce & Gabbana sponsors have become a high point of Milan Fashion Week, a reliable and fun opportunity to see the work of an on-the-rise talent in a jam-packed calendar that doesn’t allow much time for hunting down new names. Working with the stylist Katie Grand, this season Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana selected Feben, a London designer with Ethiopian roots who was born in North Korea and grew up in Sweden, and goes by her first name only.

Feben graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020, and Ssense and Browns came calling, attracted to her colorful, body-con going-out clothes. So did celebrities. Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Janelle Monáe have worn her designs. Even still, there are always new challenges for a young brand. “I think what Dolce & Gabbana do is a really important initiative: to support designers,” she said. “This [operating a fledgling business] is really hard. It gives you a platform to just develop your work and practice.”

Texture is one of those practices, and has been since before her design school days. “I just wanted to fit in and I couldn’t really afford a lot of things. So I think that’s why I have textures. Because if you can work with textures, you can create really cool things.” She went on: “I want you to feel something, either with your eyes, heart, or your hands, and I find texture so fun.” For the first time Feben cut her signature puckered “Twist” dresses in velvet, just as flattering as the satin she’s used before, and just as easy-wearing. Her runway was one of the few in Milan to feature curve models; some established brands are backsliding on their commitments to diverse casting but for her it’s a given, a non-negotiable.

The tiger motifs were lifted from Dolce & Gabbana’s ’90s collections. Applying her trademark resourcefulness, Feben reproduced them in duct tape and colored paper and had the resulting collages made into prints that she used for stretchy tube dresses. A London colleague familiar with Feben’s work said she could see the results of the cash injection and the support of Dolce & Gabbana’s atelier team on the runway. “You could just feel the elevation.” There was a pair of chaps made in Accra, Ghana, where Feben works with local artisans, with upcycled plastic beads. When Beyoncé starts touring her new country album, Feben will be ready