René Scheibenbauer

r focuses on a holistic approach to fashion design, utilising collaboration and forward-thinking technology. . His clothes are not just garments, they are experiences. The fabrics are draped sculpturally across the body and allow movement, create space, have functional compartments, hoods, pockets, drawstrings. Reworking tailoring in an emotional, sensual way. After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2018, René was awarded runner-up of the ‘L’Oréal Professionel Young Talent Award’ for his collection ‘Empathy, Connection, Play’. As part of his research, René began hosting physical and digital workshops with a community of collaborators, to study the way that clothing made them feel, using this research to inform his designs. René’s therapeutic design method comes from an interest in abstract emotion – that which is not easily definable by one word but expresses itself through feeling and movement. Each piece takes traditional forms of design – tailoring or workwear – and then is adapted to the interpreted psychology of the wearer. Creating what René calls ‘Emotional Dressing’. This process is gradual, holistic and attentive. Each garment has precision and craftmanship that feels custom made. Movement, choreography, collaboration and interaction play heavily into the core of the brand. The Empathy Jacket – designed for his graduate CSM collection in 2018 – creates the space for two people to interact and guide each other forward while shar-ing the jacket. René keeps translating and developing this interactivity into all of his collections, designing more simple, casual pieces which can give the wearer a chance to experience a moment of play or experimentation through a seemingly everyday object. It is through these therapeutic details that René creates truly contemporary clothing for the modern wearer.