elio

DESIGNER

Elio

SANGUE NOVO

Élio Ramos is a Fashion Designer currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Fashion Design at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. His work stems from a personal relationship with the body and a desire to question what he has learned about what it means to be a man. Through clothing, he explores identity, desire, masculinity and vulnerability, turning personal experiences into garments and visual narratives. His language combines contemporary cultural references with an experimental approach to clothing, seeking new ways of looking at the body and identity. He currently develops his work through ELIO.

LOSER was born from a moment when the Designer realised how difficult it was for him to admit failure. His first reaction was to pretend that everything was fine. “Hold it together. You’re a man.” It was then that he began to question the way he had learned to live his own masculinity.

He began questioning the codes of menswear associated with control, protection, and invulnerability. What if clothing stopped concealing what had always been there?

The collection seeks to make visible a vulnerability that the Designer had learned to hide, bringing to the surface what traditionally belongs underneath: underwear, areas of the body that are usually protected, and tattoos, understood as marks of experiences and emotions that we often struggle to put into words.

Developed using deadstock fabrics, Portuguese suppliers, and local production, “Loser” speaks of everything the Designer learned to hide in order to continue being seen as strong.