This Ella Mannov's Affordance Play

There is a rare, intoxicating innocence in watching a child mold Play-Doh, fold paper crowns, or style a makeshift outfit out of everyday trash. In those early years, creation isn’t burdened by permanence, commercial value, or functional utility, it is pure, spontaneous impulse. With her spellbinding collection Affordance Play, designer Ella Sofia Mannov captures this fleeting creative instinct, delivering a masterclass in fashion as open-ended imagination.

"This project began with a 13-year-old girl wearing Netto bags as a skirt suit, and has grown into a case for young girls’ unshrinking creativity. Through styling, DIY and deliberate misuse as method, it looks at what found garments and everyday objects already offer, then imagines their functions on the body: bags become skirts, handles become straps, openings become necklines, and use becomes design intelligence. It asks how teenage invention, autonomy and the courage to wear things differently can create a stage for voices that fashion and design too often overlook." - Ella Sofia Mannov, on her Instagram @ellsoman

Tactile Sculptures & Paper-Like Forms The garments exist in a tactile limbo that feels both sculpturally deliberate and wonderfully temporary. Looking at the crisp, voluminous green dress paired with its cloud-like, paper-flower headpiece, one is struck by an almost paper-craft quality. The silhouette folds, bunches, and pinches like crepe paper pulled fresh from a craft drawer, or colorful clay pinched between little fingers to create a temporary, whimsical figure. Mannov’s genius lies in her interpretation of "affordance" the psychological concept of what an object invites us to do with it. Rather than crafting rigid garments that dictate how a body should move, Affordance Play offers clothes as loose parts. They are invitations to pretend, adapt, and transform. The exaggerated proportions: dropped shoulders, bubble hems, and paper-thin volumes evoke the joyful awkwardness of playing dress-up in clothes too big, or fashioning high fashion out of shopping bags on the living room floor.

Celebrating the Ephemeral What makes the collection truly remarkable is how it celebrates the ephemerality of youthful freedom. In an industry obsessed with timelessness, archival longevity, and sharp commercial lines, Mannov chooses to honor the fleeting spark of teenage invention. Her silhouettes feel like gorgeous draft models or clay figures frozen mid-play: a reminder that the richest form of creativity is often the one that disappears when the sun sets. Affordance Play doesn't just invite us to admire fashion; it begs us to play with it again, reminding us that true style begins when we have the courage to wear things differently.