Nensi Dojaka has achieved fashion’s rising-star trifecta: the prestigious LVMH Prize, which she won in 2021; celebrity patronage from the likes of Zendaya and Bella Hadid; and rumors flying that she was in contention for top jobs at major fashion houses.
Still, the life of an emerging designer is not easy. There have been growing pains. Ms. Dojaka has not held a runway show since February 2023, despite shows being a useful marketing tool for young fashion brands.
She has focused instead on restructuring her company — bringing her sales and distribution operations in-house — and sparing herself the high expense of participating in fashion week.
“This was a very big change, and even today, it’s not like we’re used to it yet,” said Ms. Dojaka, 31, an Albanian designer who moved to London at 18 to study fashion at Central Saint Martins. “I needed to basically invest in that, rather than showing.”
This season, however, she is back on the London calendar with the help of one company: Calvin Klein. The American label approached her for a collaboration last year. The results will be incorporated into her show on Saturday, alongside the Nensi Dojaka spring collection.
Eva Serrano, who joined Calvin Klein as global brand president last year, said she admired Ms. Dojaka’s modern aesthetic: “There is nothing traditional there.”
Ms. Dojaka is known for an avant-garde approach to lingerie. Her bodysuits are sheer and architectural, her minidresses abstract and skintight. Yet the pieces are not obviously, generically sexy. Ms. Dojaka doesn’t even use the word “sexy,” she said. “Feminine and edgy” is preferable.
“I don’t have anything against the word,” Ms. Dojaka said. “It’s just that when I drape something on the mannequin, I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, it needs to feel sexy.’”
The look is considerably different from Calvin Klein’s classic underwear — those sporty elasticized sets made famous by the brand’s rather provocative advertisements. In January, Jeremy Allen White’s bulgy campaign inspired much appreciation and analysis, while an ad starring FKA twigs was banned in Britain.
But that contrast appealed to Ms. Serrano. “What I really, really like from her is her reinterpretation of underwear,” the executive said. “You don’t know if it’s something that you’re going to wear inside or outside because it is so beautiful.”
Calvin Klein has released collaborations in recent years with Palace and Heron Preston, but this is the company’s first under Ms. Serrano. (In May, she also named a new creative director for the higher-end Calvin Klein Collection: Veronica Leoni, who comes to Calvin from stints at Celine, the Row and her own label, Quira.)
“We are very strong in our men’s divisions, but we want to grow more in women’s,” Ms. Serrano said.
For Ms. Dojaka, the project offered her the production resources of a much larger company. For the first time, for instance, she could expand bra cup sizes up to DD.
“If I want to achieve the wearability for different body types, I need to put a lot more work into prototyping,” she said.
Customers have long asked her for larger sizing — the Calvin Klein collaboration ranges from size 0 to 14 and from 2XS to 2XL — as well as lower prices. (Nensi Dojaka dresses often exceed $1,000.) This collection is priced from $45 to $400.
Most of the 44 pieces are underwear, though Ms. Dojaka also made some satin dresses, a miniskirt and a jacket. They will be available online immediately after the runway show. A planned campaign for the collaboration, photographed by Harley Weir, will star the actress Rebecca Ferguson.
Even though Ms. Dojaka is returning to the runway, she doesn’t expect to show every season going forward. She is still figuring out how to strike a balance between art and accessibility. Her designs are often intricate, with unconventional cutouts, panels and straps. Sometimes, on the mannequin, a garment becomes “more like a piece to be seen rather than be worn,” she said.
Working with Calvin Klein has taught her how to scale down complexity, to accomplish something more wearable.
“I’m trying my best to make the brand commercially very successful,” Ms. Dojaka said. “But at the same time, it’s important for me to still have that element of fantasy and the emotions behind the brand.” (Last year, she made a dress she called the heartbreak dress because, she said, “that was how I was feeling at that moment in time.”)
“Sometimes, in the world nowadays, that gets lost,” Ms. Dojaka said. “I hope there will be that feeling in the show.”
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