DI PETSA is a womenswear label, founded in 2019 by Greek designer Dimitra Petsa, centred on interdisciplinary foundations, combining couture fashion practices and sustainable textile development, with performance art and film. The brand has evolved from Petsa’s personal eco-feminist research project “Wetness” investigating the relationship between woman and water, and woman and their Bodily fluids, water filtered through our bodies, bodily water. Holy Water, Sea Water.
Through the brand, Petsa explores the fluid expressions of the female experience and the multiple ways in which the female identity, vulnerability and emotional expressions of wetness are constantly sanitized - “if you cry, you must hide it, if you breastfeed, you must hide it.” Visibly leaking body fluids; whether tears, sweat, saliva, breast milk – invoke a learned emotional response of embarrassment. It is this shame that DI PETSA aims to lay bare by subverting the corporeal censorship, with a style that exudes an air of renaissance sensuality, crafting a distinct vision of the modern woman, through seasonal RTW collections, Bridalwear and Bespoke Red Carpet Couture creations.
Focusing on slow fashion traditions of dress making and craftsmanship, imaginative drape techniques and hand embroidery, collections are imbued with an aesthetic inspired by ancient Greek mythology, early Christian mysticism and eco-feminist theory. Silhouettes give shape to a woman who doesn't seek validation, muses often in a state of undress; unclothed but adorned bodies; highlighting a delicate balance of looks skillfully handcrafted with a freely chosen vulnerability. Known for the signature style, “The Wetlook” and original textile innovation, where fabric is intricately draped and hand sewn to create the effect of translucent ripples of water across the body. By appearing wet in public through DI PETSA designs, the wearer is intended to accept their bodily fluids; to be unashamedly wet.