Atelier Dasha Tsapenko's MYC_Couture
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS
People have long praised couture for its ability to shock. But what if fashion didn’t just shock people with its looks but also made them think about what it was made of? Atelier Dasha Tsapenko’s ongoing project, MYC_Couture, is based on that idea. Instead of making clothes, she grows them.
Tsapenko has made clothes out of fungi, hemp, and flax; living collaborations between the designer and the organism. The coats and gowns that came out of this unusual partnership are dramatic and sculptural. They look like couture fantasy, but their biology is what makes them new. The garments grow back, break down, and eventually go back to the earth. Tsapenko has introduced the new idea of “bioluxury”, which is a model that accepts change and that things don’t last, instead of fighting against change.
“Textures and materials are not produced; they grow.”
Dasha Tsapenko
This vision is not a gimmick or a small test. MYC_Couture, understands that a shift in worldview from garments as static objects to garments as part of ecological cycles isn’t about keeping things the same, it’s about celebrating change, growth, and coming back.
No stranger to events like Dutch Design Week, Copenhagen Fashion Week, and now at Munich Fabric Start, you will find MYC_Couture housed in the SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS space. There she hopes to start a conversation about changing the way fashion and ecology are connected. Her lesson is both simple and radical: sustainability cannot be achieved by efficiency tweaks alone.
H2 | SI
THIS MIGHT BE ALSO INTERESTING FOR YOU:
MUNICH FABRIC START – September 25 closing report
At its 56th edition, MUNICH FABRIC START reinforced its clear positioning. Over two days, the Munich textile trade show brought the fashion industry together with its four show-in-show formats.
Materials as Agents of Change with Simon Angel
Each season, the Sustainable Innovations forum brings together projects that provoke, inspire, and challenge assumptions. This year is no exception, with work ranging from bio-luxury couture to energy-generating textiles and regenerative materials grown from wetlands.
AUTUMN.WINTER 26/27 FABRIC HIGHLIGHTS & MATERIAL NOVELTIES – PART X
For the first time in Germany, S2G XR (Style 2 Garment eXtended Reality) will present a live demo of its 3D textile configurator at booth A4.20 Not a teaser.
Living Matter: Bio-Luxury for Future Materials
Indigo, a colour with a lot of history, is the main focus of this project. Denim has always meant strength and durability, and its roughness is linked to work and usefulness.
BLUEZONE NEWS FOR SEPTEMBER 2025 – PART VI
At DNM Denim, the journey continues. Inspired by nature’s cycles and guided by Flow Theory, the company moves from Challenge to Focus, and now to Freedom—the phase where potential becomes power.
BIOTEXFUTURE: How to Make Textiles from Fossils
The program is a group of businesses and universities working together to find scalable, bio-based alternatives.
Additionals Trends Autumn.Winter 26/27 – Part 8
This collection embodies softness, simplicity, and flow – from soft-touch labels and stretchable materials that move with the body, to a calming palette of pastel tones and organic, natural fibers.
Wetlands Matters – by Marc Wijkmans
Wijkman’s idea came from a simple but important observation: animals carry seeds across ecosystems in their fur.
AUTUMN.WINTER 26/27 FABRIC HIGHLIGHTS & MATERIAL NOVELTIES – PART IX
The designs embrace various trend themes – sometimes subtle, sometimes expressive – and lend each fabric its own distinctive character.
MUNICH FABRIC START September 2025 – Outlook
The countdown is on: in just three weeks, Munich will once againbecome the epicentre of the European fashion and textile industry. During the first week ofSeptember, MUNICH FABRIC START Exhibitions GmbH will unite all key fashion segments underone roof, reaffirming its position as one of Europe’s leading textile trade shows.