Ioana Ciolacu

Ioana Ciolacu (born Ioana Ciolacu Miron; November 21, 1982) is a Romanian fashion designer. She is known for receiving the Designer for Tomorrow Awards from Stella McCartney and for founding her own Ioana Ciolacu label.

Early life

Ciolacu was born in Iași, Romania. An only child, her father is an architect. As a young girl, Ciolacu spent her summers in Focșani and in the Romanian countryside. In 1992, she enrolled at the Iași Waldorf School, where she got her love for nature, strong ethics and developed her art drive. After graduation from high school, she enrolled at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest where she specialized in Architecture. While in her 5th year of study she decided to switch her career path by enrolling at Bucharest National University of Arts, while continuing to study Architecture. She graduated in 2010 as a Junior architect and in 2011 as a Fashion designer.

Career

While in school, Ioana won the European Fashion Award Berlin. Right after graduation, she began working as a design assistant for landscape artist and photographer Katja Perrey at the National University of Arts. In this period, Ciolacu also developed her first ready-to-wear line with a great local commercial success. In 2012, she received a Rector's Scholarship at University of the Arts London, London College of Fashion and moved to London to study for a masters degree in Fashion Design and Technology - Womenswear. While in school, she won the Designer for Tomorrow Award, patroned by Stella McCartney, followed by a year of mentorship in which she was coached by the designer in her London studios or backstage at the designer's Paris show. After graduating in 2013, she moved back to Bucharest to open her studio. In the summer of 2014 she first presented her Spring Summer 2015 collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin and in the same year she showed her collection twice at trade fair Who's Next Paris and started selling her collection on Moda Operandi and Peek&Cloppenburg international retailers. In the following year she attended Who's Next Paris for the third time and Ciff Copenhagen with her Autumn Winter 2015-2016 collection which was presented at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin. In 2015 Vogue.com introduced Ioana's Autumn Winter 2015-2016 in their list as one of the reference collection for the season while she released her diffusion line which promotes conscious fashion through fabric recycling and encourages local craftsmanship.

In April 2015, Ciolacu opened her Online Shop and launched her SS15 video campaign, called Lure. Directed by Anton and Damian Groves and produced by Studioset, the video won several awards at the Miami Fashion Film Festival.

Awards

The following awards have recognised Ioana Ciolacu’s achievement in fashion: