02 / 06 · No-Season 2026/27 · Manteco competition

Breathing Ocean

A no-season 2026/27 proposal for Manteco, developed by a team of four designers: the sea not as a damaged landscape but as a living system that breathes with the tides. Selena’s look is a tailored wool suit with a hand-painted insert on the back.

Brief: Manteco · No-season
Team: M. Tselepou, N. Garcia Lowenthal, S. Toska, M. Boninger
Made: Jacket and palazzo trousers
Boards: 15

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Breathing Ocean: the black suit worn in the studio, with the hand-painted insert on the back of the jacket

01Concept

The sea as a living organism

Sustainability, the core theme of the collection, is told not through waste or destruction but through awareness, respect and preservation. Corals become texture and surface applications, volumes echo the power of waves and flowing elements suggest underwater motion: “The garments do not represent pollution; they represent life.”

02Moodboard

Jellyfish, pearls, corals

A midnight-blue seabed with jellyfish, pearls and corals, and a selection of runway references for volume, surface and construction.

03Colour and fabric

Four colours, five fabrics

Sodalite Blue, Nova Scotia, Ombre Blue and Persimmon Orange; cotton, linen and wool fabrics, including the plain and herringbone Jesi wool used for the suit.

04The look

Tailoring precision, painted detail

A structured wool jacket with defined shoulders and a marked waist, and an oval opening at the back that reveals a painted, sea-inspired insert; palazzo trousers with a side slit that lets the underlying fabric show through.

05Technical sheets

Jacket and palazzo trousers

A regular-fit women’s jacket with lightly padded shoulders, herringbone wool lapels and a cotton lining; double-layer palazzo trousers with 45 cm side slits finished with press studs and an invisible side zip.

06Work in progress

From pattern to garment

Pattern layout, overlocked edges, bias binding cut from the same fabric for the zip, gathered sleeve heads, and the painted insert pinned and sewn into the back opening; then lining, hem and buttonholes.