Emilie Wenckstern wins Polimoda's best collection 2026 award

Emilie Wenckstern, a 27-year-old German designer and recent graduate of Polimoda's undergraduate course in Fashion Design, has won the Best Collection 2026 award. The recognition was for 'No longer human', a collection presented during the Polimoda Graduate Show 2026, which took place on June 15 in the square in front of the Manifattura Campus of Polimoda in Florence.

At the heart of the collection is a radical and contemporary question: what happens to the body when it can be generated, modified and constructed even before it is physically present? Through references to dolls, mannequins, sculptural figures and digital avatars, Wenckstern explores the boundary between the human and the artificial, transforming the body into a surface, a construction and an image.

Wenckstern's collection, 'No longer human', starts with a question posed to AI: if you had a body, would it still be human? In the digital age, identity is constructed, skin becomes a surface and the body is something that is designed. The collection explores the boundary between the human and the artificial, questioning not only what a body is, but when it ceases to be one.

“We live in a time when bodies are generated, modified and can exist even before their physical presence. Identity becomes a construction, skin transforms into a surface. I wanted to explore this boundary: not only to ask myself what a body is, but when it stops being one. For me, it is not just about clothes: I want to build a world that inspires others, to create a dialogue between the body, art and the garment,” explains Emilie Wenckstern.