Known for her kitten heel and sneaker fusion, Romanian-born designer Ancuta Sarca debuted at London Fashion Week in 2019 and was backed by Fashion East. Fast forward three years and she’s back to premiere her Spring/Summer 2023 collection and show off her collaboration between the two brands. When A brand new line of bags.

“I have waited a long time to show people my work in real life,” the designer told Hypebae. “I think it’s very exciting to see so many things we want to show now.” The SS23 collection takes its cues from 70s motorsport and features collaborations with SKIMS and Vans, making Sarca a new experiment. lead to the era of

SS23 also features unisex designs for the first time, with Sarca delving into her family history and reusing many of her wigs to create bags that symbolize prosperity and femininity. We spoke to the designer about the inspiration behind the collection, how the collaboration came about, and what’s next for the brand.

Keep reading for the full interview with Sarca and check out her SS23 collection above.

Tell us about the inspiration behind this season’s showcase.

When I started, I used to look at driver outfits like Formula 1 cars and 70’s Bentleys. I also read a lot about this female driver who was a champion. I was so inspired by how empowering she was and how she stood up for femininity in this very masculine auto industry. I tried to push the boundaries of masculinity and femininity by wearing masculine shoes on heels and recycling extreme sports shoes normally associated with men. I really tried to put it in a very feminine context, which is a more mature and intimate way of doing it. That’s always been the core of my brand, and I think I’ve really pushed that with this collection.

You introduced your first menswear style, how was that decision made and what are the differences in the design process, if any?

Now it’s unisex, and I wanted to explore other aspects and see different body designs. From that point of view, when I say feminine or masculine, I’m not talking about the body, I’m talking about the senses.

SS23 will also feature two new collaborations with SKIMS and Vans, please tell us about them.

Vans was born because I watched F1 a lot and saw a lot of checkerboards and associated it with checkerboard slip-ons. I think it works really well with this collection. At SKIMS, I wanted to make clothes, but not from scratch. I wanted to use a deadstock material, but I thought it would be an interesting idea to take something that is normally really soft and turn it into something very intense and powerful. These geometric and metallic material inserts create great contrast.We have a deadstock scheme and some [fabrics] Either it was defective or it was a leftover so I just rebuilt it into another piece.

Sustainability remains at the core of what you do, why is it important to you?

We all see what is happening in the world and it feels like we keep falling back and not making progress. I think we need to do something about it. We live in this world, we need to live healthy, and we need to ensure that the next generation can live a healthy life.

Finally, what next Ancuta Sarka?

I would like to explore more collaborations. Having these deadstock schemes and brands coming up is something that’s very interesting to me and sort of a mission to complete when I receive a randomized product that needs to be changed. I think, but for now I just want to take a few days off.