Metamorphosis collection

Mariangela Panagiotidou
Jul 24
3 min read

Updated: Jul 28

texTales is a creative collaboration between Greece, Italy, France and Bosnia – a union of four organizations that came together for the first time in September 2024 to harness the power of social tailoring and collective action for equity. As ANKAA Project we brought our experiencing in sewing courses and upcycling, Farsi Prossimo shared their passion for reviving vintage clothes and training underserved communities, Espero France contributed their know how in haute couture within a vibrant multicultural team, while the War Childhood Museum joined us to blend the handicraft part with storytelling. This two-year project seeks to open pathways for creation and to spotlight the talent of those who feel a calling to express themselves through fashion, especially those whose skills often go unseen.

texTALES lessons at ANKAA's tailoring lab in Kypseli, Athens

This two-year project seeks to open pathways for creation and to spotlight the talent of those who feel a calling to express themselves through fashion, especially those whose skills often go unseen.

In our early brainstorming sessions, we explored how fashion can be truly inclusive. From this, a powerful idea emerged: to co-create a fashion collection—not just to showcase technical skills, but to tell a story. And so, a journey of creative collaboration between the four countries began. Together we moved through all the steps needed from mood boards to sketches to samples, but with two guiding principles shaping our work. The first was inclusion: all steps unfolded across multicultural teams with different languages, taste, skills and stories. We ensured that everyone was heard, that translation bridged differences, and that participation was meaningful for all. The second element that united us all was sustainability and the use of discarded materials that we had on hand. Old plastic boats are reformed into sculptural armor, sleeping bags sewn as jackets, wasted ties become voluminous gilets and post production scraps are stitched together to create new textures. These constraints challenged us, but they also became our creative fuel, inspiring a more ethical approach to fashion.

Crafting a fashion collection that embodies resilience and celebrates inclusivity

From this, a powerful idea emerged: to co-create a fashion collection—not just to showcase technical skills, but to tell a story.

This collaborative collection is not about fashion, but about the stories of people behind each piece and about the celebration of equity through creativity. The garments are vessels for voices that too often go unheard—voices silenced by discrimination rooted in heritage, language, or migration. Our vision is to create a show that not only will support the makers but will build bridges between them and local communities, a space for dialogue and connection. We hope it sparks reflection, dismantles stereotypes, and softens the fear of those who look different, speak unfamiliar languages, or carry cultures that are not widely known.

Reclaimed, reimagined, reborn: from waste to wearable art

We ensured that everyone was heard, that translation bridged differences, and that participation was meaningful for all.

The theme of our multicultural fashion collection is ‘Metamorphosis’. It explores the transformation in all its forms—between countries, identities, and emotional states on the journey toward a better life. Inspired by the caterpillar breaking free from its cocoon to become a butterfly, each look represents a different phase of this evolution. Some outfits are a protective environment, some embody the constraints that hold us back, others are a weight that we have to carry and some give us the wings we need to fly away… Imagining and creating these outfits is a very meaningful process that bonded us as a team, we learned a lot about each other's lives and from each other's skills.

Metamorphosis: Every garment, a testament to transformation

This collaborative collection is not about fashion, but about the stories of people behind each piece and about the celebration of equity through creativity.

The final collection and exhibition will be presented in March 2026 in Paris, in April in Athens and in May in Faenza. We hope that our work will be embraced with the same enthusiasm that we are creating it.