Stella Jean electrifies Milan Fashion Week

She's electrified Milan fashion week with her bold Caribbean-influenced designs, but Stella Jean is not trying to break into Italy's magic circle of exclusive brands, she wants to transform the industry.

The 34-year old, born to a Haitian mother and Italian father, unveiled her Himalayas-themed autumn/winter 2015 collection Wednesday in a fresco-lined hall to riotous applause from international fashionistas and buyers.

Jean's rise to stardom began when she won Vogue Italia's Who's On Next talent contest in 2011, catching the eye of Giorgio Armani, who sponsored her spring/summer 2014 collection, quite a coup for a designer with no formal training.

She has since signed up for a partnership with the UN's Ethical Fashion Initiative, which aims to change the way the fashion industry works and use it as a tool to combat poverty in Africa and Haiti.

Ethical approach

Her latest collection featured her trademark skirts with their small waists and billowing fullness over the hips, but matched them with masculine woollen coats, jumpers and mid-calf socks -- these adorned with tassels and worn with flats.

Greys, blues, greens and beiges were lifted with brightly coloured knotted belts or embellished with beautiful silk or woollen hand-painted, hand-embroidered fabrics sourced by Jean locally on trips to the Caribbean and West Africa.

Backstage after the show, the models taking off jewels and metal bracelets from Haiti and Burkina Faso place them on a table under photographs of the women who crafted them -- and Jean is keen to underline that her creations are partnerships.

"It's not about exploiting the styles or looks of these countries," she told journalists. "It's about working together to highlight the beauty, skill and craftsmanship of artisanal productions around the globe and pushing for an ethical approach to fashion," she added.

Dressed in a brown woollen jumper and grey slacks, her hair pulled back in a bun, Jean is clearly drawn to masculine silhouettes and says her latest collection is an attempt to "usurp" traditionally male-dominated spaces.

Himalayan yak, pop symbol

A message to her models on the wall of the dressing-room reads: "Catwalk attitude, strong, energetic, rock, cocky!" and the press release accompanying the show brags of the "stylistic disobedience" the outfits embody.

"I wanted to pair the extreme feminine" 1950s and 60s silhouettes "with the overtly masculine. We didn't even shorten the coats we used, to emphasise their masculinity and show just how flexible our femininity is," she said.

Said to create her designs by simply pinning fabric on models rather than sketching her ideas, Jean says she sees the creative process as just like cooking.

"Designing is a bit like putting together a recipe. You don't just stick to sweet, salty or spicy ingredients, you use some of each," she said. And it's the playfulness of her eye-catching clothes which so entices.

Her "story of a leader" for this winter, as the press bumf has it, gives centre stage to "the Himalayan yak, polyvalent cornerstone and vital resource for the whole community, (which) transforms into a pop symbol." (Ella Ide, AFP)

Photos: British Vogue, Stella Jean AW '15