Dinu Bodiciu is a man of many hats – pun totally intended.
The past few weeks have seen the leader of the BA(Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles programme at Lasalle College of the Arts busy putting together the first virtual graduate show for the degree and honour-roll students.
Beyond that, the Romanian, who moved here six years ago, is an established designer in his own right. Establishing a fashion career upon graduating the London College of Fashion in 2011, Bodiciu dabbled in a variety of different creative fields within the industry before realising his calling as both a fashion educator and fashion and headwear designer.
Among the highlights of his career so far was when Lady Gaga donned the red ensemble from his graduate collection for her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2011. Then there is his cameo on the big screen for The Hunger Games series in which the Avox characters wore his hat designs.
Fast track to the present day, the educator is still toying with headwear design on the sides, parlaying his subversive and futuristic aesthetic and exploratory nature as he uncovers and redefines how headwear can become integral in dressing up. While navigating the current new normal like many of us, he spent his spare moments besides “cooking and watching films with [his] partner” to construct a whole new collection entitled ‘Domesticated Fetishes’ that surrounds the notion of what his design process and current motions of life mean to him.
Above, we speak to Bodiciu who shares his perceptions and views as a thriving fashion educator and designer.
Photos Courtesy of Dinu Bodiciu & Christopher Agius Burke