After finalizing her studies at Beckmans School of Design in Stockholm, Swedish fashion designer Lina Michal received lots of attention with her graduate collection Heathen Hearts. We wrote about her when she won the Vogue Talents Young Vision Award 2013 competition and she was even nominated for the H&M Design Award of that year, reaching the finals. After all the buzz and an internship in New York at Opening Ceremony, the Gothenburg native is now presenting her first ready-to-wear collection for FW15.

If you check out our post, you will see a very intricate collection, full of volume, organic shapes and fabric manipulation. The new collection is much more clean and simple, so I asked her a few questions to know more about this transition and plans for the future.

How did the transition from Stockholm to New York affected your aesthetics? 

Well, I started to feel really trapped in Stockholm, in several ways. I felt stuck in my ways personally and too boxed in aesthetically. The move to New York gave me a sense of freedom back, I felt like I didn’t have to answer to anyone while designing, and I worked hard on simplifying my aesthetic. It wasn’t really until after the collection was done that I realized I had probably been very inspired by the sleek sportswear that so typically comes out of New York.

I really like the blue print in the dress, can you tell us more about the inspiration?

Thank you! It was part of trying to work with simpler themes. So I created a classic blue plaid that I then allowed myself to play around with. The version we eventually settled on simply melts at the edge of garments into these colorful swirls.

Where can we find your collection?
We just opened our online store this year, very happy about that! The collection was up for pre-order for a while, and a few select pieces will be back in stock in the end of September.

Plans for the future?
We are working on the SS16-collection right now, and I am so excited to show everyone!