Designer Conversations: Florentina Leitner
Florentina Leitner: the Construction of a Dream
Florentina Leitner operates within a space where fashion becomes less about product and more about atmosphere, an evolving narrative shaped through intuition and character-building. Speaking after her latest runway show at Paris Fashion Week, the designer articulates a process that is both emotionally driven and structurally aware, balancing fantasy with the realities of contemporary production.
At the core of Leitner’s work is a recurring figure: a “dream girl,” reimagined each season yet consistent in sensibility. “She’s always very fairy-like,” Leitner explains, drawn to color, glitter and softness. This character-led approach allows her to construct collections not as isolated garments, but as extensions of a broader narrative world. Rooted partly in her upbringing in nature, this world is punctuated by recurring floral motifs, which have become a defining element of her visual language.
a. Storytelling as Process
Starting from a singular concept, Leitner's collections emerge through layered references and ongoing studio experimentation.
“It's always changing. Sometimes we have a fabric which we've already started developing some styles with. But other times I see a movie or listen to a song, or see an image and base on those pieces my characters. But it's also a story we're telling while going and it's not there from the beginning. Sometimes it's really evolving into something completely different, the more we make, and create, and work in the studio.”
This fluidity is evident in her latest collection, which draws on the cultural references from The Princess Diaries and SATC series alongside the early 2000s pop-cultural imagery. Models appear in crowns and pajama-like silhouettes, evoking a character suspended between private and public space.
b. Repetition and Signature Elements
Despite the openness, designer’s work is anchored by recurring details that provide continuity across seasons. Puffy floral applications, in particular, have emerged as a recognizable signature.
“I grew up in nature, so I think there's also always these details of flowers which are coming back in my collections. <...> And then we were also inspired by actually our own garments a bit and wanted to repeat things which we really liked ourselves. So you also see a few of our details from last Fall/Winter show, like the puffy flowers is something, which is now a signature Florentina and we try to repeat.”
This repetition is less about consistency for its own sake and more about refinement. By revisiting specific techniques, the studio is able to develop and recontextualize them, allowing certain elements to evolve into identifiers of the brand.
c. Cultural Exchange and Audience
Leitner’s designs have gained visibility within global pop culture, particularly among K-pop artists—though this development occurred organically rather than through targeted outreach.
“I discovered K-pop through the girls wearing my clothes,” Florentina reflects.
This reversal, where the designer encounters the cultural framework through the wearer, illustrates a broader shift in how fashion circulates today. Garments move fluidly across geographies and media platforms, generating new meanings beyond their point of origin. For designer, this has opened an ongoing dialogue with audiences in Asia, while maintaining the integrity of her design language.
d. Constraints and Fabric Choices
Material limitation also plays a central role in creative process. Working with deadstock fabrics and small-scale production networks introduces clear constraints, directly influencing design decisions.
“You only have that much meters,” designer explains.
The statement pointing to the impossibility of producing large-scale, fabric-intensive garments under such conditions. Rather than resisting these limitations, Leitner integrates them into her design philosophy. Constraint becomes a generative force, shaping silhouette, proportion and construction.
Confronted with the saturation of the fashion system, she acknowledges the tension between creation and excess. Her response this season was to reduce the collection to 26 looks, an intentional decision that reflects a more measured approach to output while preserving the experience of the runway.
e. Education and Development
Florentina's training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp continues to inform her working process. She describes the experience as both rigorous and formative, characterized by continuous trial and error.
“I learned that it's not always easy and it's very stressful studies. And I think the Academy really pushes you to show something that's very you. It’s a lot of hit and miss. Sometimes it’s not good, and sometimes it's suddenly good and you’re super proud of yourself.”
This iterative structure remains central to her current design practice, where collections are not fully predetermined but discovered through making. The emphasis on personal expression, a hallmark of the academy, is evident in the distinctiveness of her narrative-driven approach.
f. Comfort and Contemporary Fashion
Alongside more delicate, embellished elements, Leitner has recently incorporated heavier, more casual materials - particularly fleece - into her collections. Styled together with sequins or layered under statement pieces, these garments introduce a tension between comfort and decoration.
“Lately it's heavy fleece, which I wear myself also a lot. I think especially for winter it's nice to hibernate a bit and have like a cool fit on and go out in jogging pants but then like have a sequin dress over it.”
This combination reflects a broader shift in contemporary fashion, where boundaries between private and public, comfort and display, continue to blur. In Florentina’s work, this mix becomes part of the narrative itself, her characters moving seamlessly between intimacy and performance.
When asked to define her label, she offers three words: “feminine, fun and floral.” Concise yet descriptive, this triad envisions a brand that is both visually distinct and conceptually layered, the one where storytelling, material awareness and emotional resonance intersect.
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