Bună Ziua Pipenco Lorena

Designer Lorena Pipenco resurrects memories, reclaims forgotten narratives, and stitches history into every seam. With repurposed textiles that carry the weight of past lives—discarded fabrics, family heirlooms, and market finds—she creates garments that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant. Just a few days away from her next runway show, Submission checks in with the designer who transforms childhood nostalgia, and Eastern European heritage into avant-garde silhouettes. This isn’t about “upcycling” in the trendy sense - it’s about giving materials the dignity of a second life. Thoughtful, resourceful, and unapologetically bold, Pipenco is proving that fashion’s future is already in the past

PHOTOGRAPHY JACK BELLI @jackbelli @102nyc
INTERVIEW + STYLING JESPER GUDBERGSEN @yessirjesper
HAIR LEDORA FRANCIS @ledora @bornartistsrep
MAKEUP SENA MUHARASHI @ittts_sena @maworldgroup 
MODEL BAYLEE @bayleewinkel @womenmanagementla
CASTING MOLLIE MAGUIRE @molliemaguire SUBMISSION CASTING + MANAGEMENT @submissioncastingmanagement  
THANK YOU CYBORG @cyborgborg

Hi Lorena ! Tell me who you are and what it is you do

My name is Lorena Pipenco. I'm a New York-based designer and grew up in a Romanian household in the UK where we'd only eat and speak Romanian. I would say I design in a way that's heavily inspired by that heritage and using clothes as a form of storytelling. I try to tell generational stories or stories that sometimes feel forgotten - I like to revisit stories and discover new things each time through textiles and silhouettes.

When I look at your clothes, I always find there’s an exploration of childhood and elements of playfulness. How would you say your childhood inspires you informs you? 

I think within every collection I've done so far I've always revisited childhood elements, whether it's movies I used to watch growing up or exploring childrenswear silhouettes through enlarging pieces to fit like they would on a child. 

I think this childhood place is an important part of my life, because I was very confused about my identity growing up in the UK. Growing up in two very different environments, the outside being so different from my home life, I found myself very ashamed of the things I loved. I always tend to go back and revisit childhood because I like to discover things again. Reevaluating things through a different perspective of age is something I always find very fascinating, discovering a sort of darkness that also exists in childhood. As an example, one of my first collections was inspired by my favorite movie growing up, called Veronica. It’s a 1970s children's film from Romania about an orphanage and when I rewatched it as an adult, I realized really it ‘s actually total propaganda and had this underlying message about communism.

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Can you tell me a little bit more about the brand as it exists today,  where you started and why?

I've had a lot of stages of making that have not always been online or spoken about. The first time I really started making properly was when I was 16 with my grandma and we used to make these one-off pieces for people - custom dresses, but very tailored to that specific area. Not always pieces I liked, but it was so fun to see how the customer reacted to getting something they really wanted. I started getting really serious about my particular perspective when I was finishing my masters at Parson’s. I always explored my Romanian heritage in my collections, but I never really asked why, and my final thesis collection was the beginning of really diving into that, and with this and my first show outside of school, I really started to delve into my own world.

Tell us more about the influence Romania and its culture has on your work?

I would spend every summer in Romania and I always felt like I wanted more, I wanted to be around it more than I could. I love to look back into my heritage because it is a way to learn more about my family. Back in the UK our house is ridiculously decorated, we have leopard print walls, velvet carpets, every kind of print you can think of, every clash is happening there. I always asked myself, why the hell is my house so fucking weird? And then I started to have conversations with my mom and my grandma where they started opening up about growing up in Romania during communism. There were certain clothes they couldn't wear, certain things they couldn't buy and when coming to the UK, it resulted in this sorta burst of expression. They also dress the same too - completely crazy. 

What’s fascinates me is that my work is a way to discover history through my own family. The more I talk about their past, their history and what they went through, the more I discover why things are the way they are now. They never really told me until adulthood that my grandma was a seamstress or that my mom wanted to do fashion until I was already doing my bachelor's. As a kid, my heritage was something I felt embarrassed, so it’s quite something that its now such a key part of my work.

I think there’s such power in taking something you felt shame around as a kid, and flipping it on its head to celebrate it… 

Ultimately, I think I somewhat repressed my culture for a long time, so now I just want to celebrate it.

Being so connected to your history and exploring that in your work, what does it feel like to be so far away from your family?

My grandmother and mum came to the last show - my grandma even walked in it! But it does feel difficult and weird because I learned how to make with my grandma and if I still lived there, we would definitely be working on the collections together in person. We try to collaborate via facetime, and for the upcoming show, my grandma is working on some pieces. For the collection in the story here, my mum was sourcing or getting family members to send stuff to me and 90% of it was upcycled textiles from Romania, so the collaboration is still ongoing in a way.

Tell me a little bit more about the sourcing of this collection and how it informed what you did in the design ?

Some of the materials are pieces that were discarded around different homes of friends and families in Romania. They’re worn out and I like how they’re even kind of messed up from past moments - spills, tears and the like. Some of the fabrics are from small Romanian markets where they're helping local older ladies who are making at home. Others are pillowcases, tablecovers and old curtains that my family were sourcing around Romania. I worked with every scrap of each piece - no leftovers - and it was kind of interesting to let these pieces create the garments themselves in a way. What I made was very influenced by the original piece and led me to imagine them having another life.

Is this an approach you're looking to continue to explore in your work?

I try to do this with every collection I do because I find it fascinating to see how existing textiles can be imagined in a different way without you having to completely destroy it. You can still use it in its original form, but have it embody a new and contemporary feeling to it. For me it's a challenge to see how we can make that work.

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It’s not like a blank page - you’re starting with a coloring book instead. Do you feel upcycling has become a signature of your brand?

I don’t like to describe my work this way - I don’t even really use the word upcycling, I just give things new life. I hate it when people describe themselves as sustainable designers, because you know what? Noone's really sustainable, but if you try your best to give something a new life, that’s doing something good.

For me it’s more about incorporating someone else’s story into a piece. I wouldn't say I'm like an upcycler but I try to always bring life back to some of these pieces in a way that's whimsical and doesn't look like we're just patchworking everything together. It’s funny, because these pieces take forever to make and then all of a sudden, after hours of work, you see some grandma's coffee stain - it makes me appreciate the piece in a whole new way.

What does it feel like right now to be a young brand? Do you feel supported?

The most important thing to me in this industry is having your team around you - the production company I work with and my team in general have become like family and have supported me in every possible way. I also had help from the Romanian Cultural Institute at the last show, which was great. But it's also just a shit show being a maker right now. I feel like everyone is in a really dark space right now, the more I speak to creatives. Sometimes it feels like a lost cause, but we just got to keep going.

What is something you’ve accomplished that you’re proud of? 

There was a moment during the last show at Ukrainian East Village Restaurant where we had a lot of different Eastern European people there, Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish, a bit of everything. It was just so amazing to have these people come up to me  after the show and say "even if we're not Romanian, this really feels like home." I've never had anyone say that to me before and it felt so fulfilling to finally feel like I’m accomplishing something - giving new air to Eastern European culture. Also, obviously having my grandma open the show was really cute. 

I thought I was giving you an opportunity to name drop some of the major artists you’ve made stage wear for -I like this answer better, haha! But on that note; having made custom looks for big names like Doja Cat, Melanie Martinez, Julia Fox, Karol G - that’s sort of continuing the tradition of what you did with your grandmother, too. I think that's really cute.

It's true - I never thought about it like this! At the moment, that’s really how I make my money - just like back in the day with my grandma. My god. Thank you for making me realize that!

Tell me a little bit about what you're most excited about with the next show - what was the idea behind the collection?

We're definitely going for more of a darker approach, a bit more gothic than before and Romanian folk tales were a huge inspiration for me this season. The clothes are still fun and whimsical - we’re not going totally off brand - but we're looking at different themes this time. It’s still Romanian in nature, but we're exploring different avenues this time - a darker historical twist..

I literally cannot wait to see - best of luck with the show and thank you ! 

@PIPENCOLORENA