Next Gen / No Kill: Alicia Corradini on Reimagining Masculinity Through Lace and Football Shirts

Q+A with Alicia Corradini
Parsons BFA 2025

Spring/Summer 2026 BOYHOOD by Corradini

At No Kill Magazine, we’re after what might change the game — not just what’s next. Some of the sharpest ideas are coming from designers rewriting fashion’s rules.
In Next Gen / No Kill, we spotlight standout fashion graduates whose work opens up new conversations and possibilities. From New York’s top programs and beyond, these are the designers shaping a future of fashion defined by intelligence, creativity, and intention.

What is the inspiration or concept behind your collection?
BOYHOOD is an exploration of the transformative and often tumultuous journey in which boys are faced with a world where societal expectations begin to shape their male identity. From an early age, boys are fed this image that masculinity is defined by things like power, wealth, and sex. This collection offers a female perspective on boyhood, capturing a time before these implanted societal beliefs become their reality, when a boy is innocent, carefree, and passionate.

Through the use of up-cycled football shirts married with lace (a fabric associated with notions of vulnerability and femininity) each piece acts as a vehicle for reimagining masculinity. One that honors vulnerability, strength, and childlike sensibility. By blending unconventional styles.

As a designer, I strive to blend masculine and feminine styles, transcending gender stereotypes while incorporating sustainable practices. Here masculinity is reimagined. There are no limits, boxes or labels – only fluidity, vulnerability and sensibility.

What’s one material or technique you’re currently obsessed with?
I am currently obsessed with lace. I love to upcycle and use unconventional fabric pairings and my love for lace bloomed last year when I did a collection called “Walk of no shame.” I upcycled deadstock female undergarments from my local discount store and utilised them to make male streetwear pieces. Mixing denims, lace trimmings and deadstock organza to make strange but traditional male silhouettes. With BOYHOOD I make a similar unusual pairing. One that bridges a gap between something inherently “masculine” and something inherently feminine “lace”. Being able to marry these two worlds together in a playful manner is the core of this collection.

What does fashion mean to you today?
Fashion is your choice of armour you choose to wear everyday. Fashion is identity defining, it’s the way the world sees you without saying any words. To me fashion and having a choice to express yourself on a daily basis is what makes design work so intimate and special. Having those brands/designers you look up to amalgamating with the essence of who you are on any given day is the meaning behind the work we do. I look forward to being able to be a part of someone’s self expression in the future.

What’s one thing you wish the fashion industry would leave behind—and one thing it should embrace?
I hope the fashion industry reduces its barriers to entry, creating opportunity for young designers to enter the market. Fashion is for everyone, for the people and sometimes the industry feels limited and exclusive. On the other hand, the industry should embrace the potential for collaboration between different creative industries, film/music/art. I see a lot of brands who are collaborating in this refreshing way and I would like to see more of it. For example, MIUMIU storytellers or designer Anthony Vaccarello / Saint Laurent designing the costumes for Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino and JW Anderson X Queer. These are all collaborations which place fashion at the center of a new perspective and bring new life for the designer to view their clothes in a different space and context, perhaps one they never thought of before.

Who or what has shaped your design values most?
My design values are deeply rooted in my cultures. My mother is from Medellin, Colombia. My father is from Rome, Italy and my brother and I are both born and raised in London, UK. Being able to blend all these pieces of me together through the lens of fashion is what inspires me most. Each country represents various parts of my design language, the patterns of the Sardinian sea and the tropical nature of Colombia in my colors, being mixed in with my traditional palette for uniforms from my British roots. In BOYHOOD these pillars of my cultures are represented in each football jersey, as each one represents one of my countries.

If you could design for anyone in the world, who would it be—and why? Martine Rose and Grace Wales Bonner inspire me deeply as they are two female pioneers in the British fashion space. Martine Rose sculpts a new wave of menswear bringing fresh but traditional silhouettes and mixing them with a sporty style. She places her pieces in non-traditional spaces and her collaborations with Supreme and Nike bring a new and accessible depth to her pieces. In a similar lens, Grace Wales Bonner is deeply rooted in representing her cultures through her work, something I myself explore. The way she brings refinement and colors together, blending narratives and opposing styles together is the beauty of her work, where these differences become one.

Last but not least, Francesco Risso of Marni. Born in Sardinia on a boat and conquering the streets of Milan with his unconventional and artistic approach to his designs. He is a designer that keeps me on my toes and wanting more. I listened to a podcast recently and he said that once for inspiration he covered the floor of his office in paper so the team could paint and draw all around it to find inspiration. The unconventionality and subversion of everything he does is what I crave as a designer.

Three things keeping you sane right now
My friends, family and running in the park listening to MkGee.

One word to describe your design approach Reinvention