Iqôn In Cabin Fever
Iqôn In Cabin Fever is a collection of unique, handcrafted garments by Tata Christiane, created from upcycled leather scraps, vintage scarves, and crochet patchwork. It emerged from an intense creative moment — a journey to Kiev for the Gogol Festival with photographer Daria Marchik, and a chance encounter with the iconic and melancholic muse, Danila Polyakov. The collection explores the dualities of pop culture and religious iconography, internal peace and public performance, and the tension between beauty and absurdity. It is a reflection on artistic isolation, sacred irreverence, and the ritual of making by hand — a fashion séance of slow, sculptural storytelling.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… Origins of the Collection
Iqôn In Cabin Fever is a collection of one-of-a-kind garments handcrafted by Tata Christiane from upcycled leather remnants, vintage scarves, and intricate crochet patchwork. Born during a creative journey to Kiev with photographer Daria Marchik for the Gogol Festival — and shaped by a powerful encounter with Danila Polyakov, the Russian icon of melancholic and extravagant fashion — this Fall-Winter collection fuses sacred imagery with pop iconography. It explores the tension between inner serenity and public spectacle, between devotion and absurdity. Inspired by the claustrophobic emotion behind the song Cabin Fever by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the collection becomes a reflection on isolation, transformation, and the surreal beauty found in contradiction. These garments are more than clothes — they are ritual objects, sewn in silence and crafted in fragments, carrying with them a slow, sculptural energy and a sense of reverent irreverence.
Icons, Pop, and the Paradox of Peace
Iqôn In Cabin Fever put in perspective of this game of images, and the iconoclastic conflict. The attention on detail, simplicity of the port and bearing, casualness and humor. The paradox between the peace and the internal light appropriate for the icon, that is appropriate for every person, and its confrontation with the outside which sometimes confines him in a kind of madness of inadequacy.
The uniqueness of the icon and its work handmade in a workshop is a reference for the realization of unique pieces in the fashion.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… A Craft Built in Fragments
One of my first concerns when I started the label was where to find quality raw materials with a variety of materials. And one of my other issues was to find these resources within my very little budget.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… Sourcing and Material Rituals
It’s a mixture of resourcefulness and careful research. Indeed, when you have almost no budget at all: how to find what to make new pieces and how to ennoble your production.
One of my solutions: crochet has allowed me to make pieces with a precious and quality finish due to the handwork and the mix of materials. Even if I was chasing wool on flea markets or in places where wool was sold out, the work of composition, of mixing techniques allowed me to have quality renderings while expressing my style.
One of the other solutions was to glean fabrics from vintage markets. Because I could find great raw materials that I could recycle. In these first unique pieces appear the first uses I made of vintage scarves. Indeed, I found in vintage scarves an infinite source of prints, colours and inspiration. Their unity was also in itself a source of pleasure and joy to create.
This resource work was like a treasure hunt.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… Patchwork as Sculpture
One of my favourite techniques is assembling left-overs (here, it was a leather drop bag, given to me by another designer). I re-cut all the leather scraps by re-cutting them, and edging them with holes, so that I could assemble them with a manuelle and adapted patchwork technique. I use this technique a lot because I find it very creative, but also it allows me to use even small scraps, and the work is entirely manual, without using a sewing machine. It is a silent, patient technique that always offers surprises. I also appreciate its sculptural potential.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… Designer Markets and Real Feedback
At that time, I regularly participated in various designer markets, all over the place and especially in Berlin. For me, designer markets have several advantages: they allow designers to earn a living, to test their offer and the reception of the pieces by the customers in a very direct and quite dialectic relationship with the customers who thus become a concrete interlocutor. I think that this experience was incredibly formative for me, even if sometimes there were also negative experiences. In general, it was an enriching experience and it also allowed me to start living from my work little by little.
Iqôn In Cabin Fever… A Stage Beyond the Studio & The Editorial Vision of Valquire Veljkovic
This collection traveled well beyond the studio. Iqôn In Cabin Fever was showcased on the runways of Berlin Fashion Week, the Erki Moeshow in Estonia, and FashionClash Maastricht, each stage offering a new lens through which the garments could speak. These shows marked key moments in the collection’s evolution, allowing the pieces to move, breathe, and transform in live performance. The journey culminated in a striking editorial photographed by Valquire Veljkovic, whose sensitive and surreal visual language perfectly captured the collection’s quiet intensity, sculptural presence, and iconoclastic spirit.
