Recent LCF MA graduate, Maria Piankov is a Russian-born designer with a zeal for all things futuristic. Clean-cut and modern, her designs are at once visually powerful and subtle, owing to the harmonious interplay of forms and colours. Her debut A/W15 collection is stellar in more ways than one, counting space and technology among its primary inspirations. Rather than representing the physical wonder of the cosmos, this is space channelled through the prism of human experience. Piankov cites the ‘Overview Effect’ as a starting point for the collection; a term used by astronauts to describe the perspective-altering experience of viewing the Earth from outer space. At first glance, silhouettes recall NASA spacesuits and blocks of colour or printed panels are intriguingly scientific. Contextualised by the lookbook, the collection reveals darker nuances; poses are disconcerting- at times even robotic- as if to hint at the isolating, alien nature of outer space.