Belen Simonian founded Fosis in 2021. But this isn’t just any lockdown project. It’s a fashion brand with a difference. Prior to Fosis, Belén was working in media, content creating for culinary clients. Turning towards the creative industry, she became creative director for Bestia alongside running her Vintage shop Bichxs in Buenos Aires. As a designer looking for projects to pursue her creativity, it’s clear that Belén is a woman of many talents who loves for life to keep her on her toes.
In 2021, during a time of reflection whilst in confinement, Belén began looking for a new form of expression and a vehicle for purpose that honoured her belief in the importance of sustainability through upcycling, reusing and repurposing.
As a designer, Belén works predominantly with recycled clothing as a starting point for her designs. From there, she takes a garment and repurposes, alters and embellishes it with her own unique touch. It might come as a surprise, but actually, she had never touched a sewing machine before she started making clothes. She is a curious person, fascinated by the processes of making so being new to sewing didn’t pose a barrier for her. It must be in her blood - her grandmother, a seamstress from Sicily in her youth, stepped up to teach her the art of sewing. It wasn’t long before Belén ‘graduated’ from her grandmother’s sewing course and took off on her own, eyes open for new garments to put her stamp on.
photo Vincas ÄŒygas
Her unique eye leads to really interesting results - think embroidered butterflies, inspiring quotes ‘I am also other than what i imagine myself to be’.
Belén is both a dreamer and an intellectual; she likes to read a lot and her brand represents something different to mainstream fashion. She describes herself as ‘crafty’, her work emerging from small epiphanies she experiences or something funny that happens and sparks an idea. Her love for spirals, which feature heavily in her work, represents something big and beautiful which captures the philosophy behind her brand and the way she sees the world. She explains ‘Life is like a spiral, we are constantly evolving and we go round the spiral, sometimes repeating the same mistakes and doing the same thing until we learn. When we take a step forward along the spiral, we level up and the cycle begins again.
photo Vincas ÄŒygas
Every piece that Fosis creates is a one off which makes her work that bit more desirable. As I browsed through her collection at the exhibition, it wasn’t long before something caught my eye - a detail that felt uniquely her. The spirit of Argentina speaks through her clothes and we could all do with some of that laid back, spiritual energy emanating from the Buenos Aires scene in our wardrobe.
Special thanks to Belén for this interview.
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