It’s hard to believe that Marine Serre’s runway debut was only two years ago in Paris for her FW18 presentation. The 28-year-old designer who won the LVMH prize just a year prior to her first show navigates the industry like a seasoned veteran. She’s continually lauded by fashion publications and celebrities such as Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kendall Jenner are fans of her designs. Serre has ultimately found her stride in the industry all thanks to an aesthetic that puts care and consciousness front and center. At least 50% of Serre’s collections consists of upcycled material, a reflection of her design language which mixes antique elements with futurist concepts — think old lace fabrics and vintage silk scarves combined with sharp tailoring and tech outerwear.

This year was a time of great reflection for many designers but for Serre, it was all about pushing the conversation of how fashion can take care of the environment further. “What we have to consider most is the environment around us and start from that,” Serre told WWD in regards to her Spring 20 collection. “With sustainability, I don’t want to say that the only way to do it is the way I’m doing it, or the way someone else is doing it. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Brands of different sizes have to find different ways to make their own sustainable processes. We should start looking at what is around us.”

Serre’s FW20 show acknowledged the wildfires and climate change and a lot of the visuals for her campaigns included dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes. There’s a survivalist attitude to her clothes and products with voluminous tailoring for body protection, utility pockets for survival tools and the blending of traditional patterns with modern fabrics that signal the connection between past and future. Serre’s vision is extremely surreal but it’s poignant and very immediate. In early July, the French designer along with brand Y/Project won the prestigious ANDAM Family Fund Award — she received the top prize of $224,000 USD and mentorship from members of the institution.