Fred Segal launches Madelen Nyau's debut collection

Los Angeles-based retailer Fred Segal has launched the first collection from Madelen Nyau, winner of the second annual Season Zero design contest presented by Mastercard to support emerging Black designers and artists.

Zambian-born and Queens-raised Nyau, who is now based in Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of the Pratt Institute and impressed the judges with her brand, Titan Studios, which focuses on crafting luxury staples driven by curiosity in art, science, and psychology.

Her debut collection is driven by “the relationship of the body to space and objects with a focus on the work chair – re-evaluating its physical, emotional, and spiritual role,” explains Fred Segal. It takes inspiration from the construction of furniture “to increase productivity and focus, playing with structure, function and comfort”.

The result is a unisex collection featuring exaggerated silhouettes emphasising upright tops and billowing bottoms to highlight the physical purposes in the anatomy of a chair. The line includes knit tops, denim pants and coats, waxed and unwaxed canvas pants, shorts, a cotton-polyester skirt and a pleated dress.

The knits incorporate technology from Shima Seiki programming to achieve the stiff construction in tops. While other pieces have been made from wool, crochet thread, cotton yarn, cotton denim, polytech, and twill.

In addition to having her collection produced, Nyau also received mentorship from Fred Segal and Mastercard representatives and was awarded a Mastercard 10,000 US dollar grant and Digital Doors Toolkit to help further grow and digitally enhance her business.

The debut Madelen Nyau / Titan Studios collection is available at Fred Segal’s Flagship Sunset Blvd. location until January 2023 and online at fredsegal.com. Prices range from 125 to 595 US dollars.