One Year On: Paolina Russo

One of the standout projects from the 2018 MullenLowe NOVA Awards was from Paolina Russo, a BA Fashion: Fashion Design and Knitwear student. Her final project, ‘A Letter to My Home Town’, was chosen for her clever transformation of old rugs, crochet blankets, sports equipment and shoes into corsets, gowns and armour, to create a collection that showcases the juxtaposition of domestic lifestyle and femininity alongside the imagery of sports culture.

With the 2019 MullenLowe NOVA Awards just around the corner, we caught up with Paolina to see what she’s been up to since being named a Runner Up at the ceremony last year.

What have you been up to since winning a MullenLowe NOVA Award?

I’ve been really busy! I did a show in January with Adidas in Paris for Paris Fashion Week which was really amazing. I also launched my first capsule collection at Selfridges.

It’s been a really great experience since I finished, and I’ve been working non-stop on projects which I’m really happy about.

How has winning helped further your work?

It’s helped me a lot because the financial support was what I really needed to continue doing the work that I was doing over the summer. When I left the BA, I had spent a lot of money creating my collection and I didn’t have enough to continue the work, so I invested the money into the projects I was working on at the time. It really pushed everything I was doing forward which was great!

Have you done anything exciting with the prize money?

I invested the prize money into my first collection, which included buying the initial fabrics, getting my labels done and setting up the business side of things which was really helpful to make the production run smoothly.

What are your plans for the future?

Right now, I’m doing my masters at Central Saint Martins which I’ll be finishing in February. In the meantime, I’m working on some projects that will be coming out next year and continuing to work on my brand and doing more creative projects outside. I really like working with artists musicians and collaborating with art directors so I’d like to continue working with them.

Find out more about Paolina’s work and upcoming projects here