Sera Ghadaki Looks Back—and Moves Forward—with *FIFTEEN* at NYFW

–Eliza Corderman

For Sera Ghadaki as a designer, the number fifteen holds significance. She began her brand fifteen years ago and began sewing at fifteen years old. For her latest presentation during New York Fashion Week, aptly titled *FIFTEEN*, Ghadaki went back through her archives, looking at everything from smaller details to larger themes that have remained present throughout her work.

“Although a lot has changed, a lot also hasn’t,” Ghadaki says. Looking back, she identified five recurring themes throughout her practice: threadworks, biomaterials, transformable pieces, custom prints, and silhouettes. With a background in architecture, Ghadaki approaches her garments with an interest in both construction and how they move on the body. Her work ranges from wearable everyday pieces to more experimental, one-of-a-kind garments, with an emphasis on creating pieces that can remain in someone’s wardrobe and be cherished for years. At the presentation, Ghadaki wore a piece from her first collection, made approximately fourteen years ago. It was a quietly meaningful gesture that spoke to the longevity she hopes to build into every piece and the lasting personal connections clothing can hold.

Sera Ghadaki

In place of a traditional runway, Ghadaki presented *FIFTEEN* with improvisational dancers, giving attendees the opportunity to experience her pieces in motion. As a mover and lover of dance herself, Ghadaki says, “I wanted the clothes to linger,” while also exploring “what people can move in, and what is comfortable, and what can be effortless.” The format felt intimate and generous, giving the audience time to appreciate both the garments’ construction and the ease with which they responded to the dancers’ bodies.

Materials and process played an important role in *FIFTEEN*, with samples displayed alongside finished pieces to show more of the process and tactility behind the work. Materials included latex-coated canvas from Brazil, sourced through a local person who works with artisans, alongside textiles Ghadaki develops herself in-house.

Her threadworks combine techniques of quilting and embroidery to create entirely one-of-a-kind garments from thread, resulting in textiles that can feel delicate while still holding structure. For *FIFTEEN*, she experimented with silk-wrapped stainless steel thread, giving the material both structure and memory. The threadworks originally began with Ghadaki collecting loose pieces of thread left behind while sewing. “If you sew, you know it’s everywhere,” she says. Having seen projects that made use of fabric scraps, but not often thread scraps, she began exploring how these smaller remnants could create a larger textile, sometimes using scraps and other times building with “thread upon thread upon thread.” The resulting work is especially compelling, transforming materials that might otherwise be overlooked into intricate textiles with a strong sense of presence.

For Ghadaki, sustainability and the use of materials is “not just twofold, but manyfold.” Her made-to-order and small-batch approach helps keep waste low, while leftover materials can become the starting point for something new. *FIFTEEN* was made primarily with natural materials, but her approach is also about using what she already has: “My kind of rule is to use what I have, whether that was natural, whether that was synthetic. And then the new that I make or produce is natural.” Taken together, *FIFTEEN* offered a warm and thoughtful reflection on Ghadaki’s evolution, honoring the ideas that have sustained her practice while leaving space for them to continue growing.

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Sera Ghadaki Looks Back—and Moves Forward—with FIFTEEN at NYFW

–Eliza Corderman

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–Eliza Corderman

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