She Took Her Room

My name is Leonie Winterhalter. I’m a Swiss-German womenswear designer with a BA from Germany and an MA from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. Rooted in lived female experience, my work explores identity, intimacy, and rawness. Through embedded storytelling, I invite the wearer to emotionally connect with the garment as part of my sustainability concept, to ensure the wearer keeps the garment.

I design ready-to-wear pieces that bridge wearable art with functionality, creating garments that are not only poetic but also practical for everyday life. I place a strong emphasis on a high level of craftsmanship in my work. Inspired by personal space, the women's bedroom, and girlhood—a space of care, chaos, and quiet transformation—I design from the inside out. This is where identity unfolds, and where rawness and honesty emerge. I translate this intimate atmosphere into garments, aiming to carry the feeling of safety and intimacy from the bedroom into clothing—creating pieces that allow women to feel at home in themselves through what they wear.