Irina Voinea grew up between sewing machines and bolts of fabric fashion was never a choice, it was inherited. Third generation, but the first to ask what Romanian fashion could become when it stops chasing trends and starts building identity. She left at 16, studied in the UK, turned down offers from Dsquared and McQueen, and came home at 21 to open her own atelier. Today, her luxury womenswear and menswear collections stocked on Farfetch and shown at institutions like the National Library and MINA Museum move between philosophy, symbolism, and AI-driven design. Irina Voinea is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Romanian fashion, and she’s only just getting started.

We sat down with her to find out.

1. You grew up surrounded by sewing machines and fabric, in your family’s factory third generation of tailors. When did you first feel that fashion was more than a craft? That it was a language?

Fashion was always present in my life, but the moment I felt it was more than just a trade came a little later, when I began to understand that clothes can carry emotions and ideas. Fashion became a language for me the moment I realised that every piece can tell a story and create a real connection with people moving beyond a functional object into something personal.

2. You left Romania in your teens specifically to study fashion in the UK. You received offers from Dsquared and McQueen and turned them down. What brought you back, and why?

It was an extraordinary experience that shaped me in every way, but honestly, I never saw myself staying there. I had job offers in England before I came back, but I returned for personal reasons and because I love this country and believe it has a lot to offer. I moved back to Romania right after graduating, at 21 or 22, and was able to open an atelier immediately and work with people who let me explore my creative side, to be myself. I don’t think I could have done that abroad at that age. My roots are here, and I wanted to build something authentic starting from here.

3. A professor recommended you focus on menswear. After a decade dedicated to men, you’ve started exploring womenswear. What did you learn about women from the clothes you made for men?

From university onward, the male figure served as my muse and that inclination toward menswear felt completely natural. Balance in menswear, from my point of view, starts at the shoulders men have the trapezius, a different kind of structure. In women, there’s an entirely different fluidity. Even the women’s pieces I was designing back then were somehow still rooted in structure I wasn’t making flowing dresses, I was drawn to blazers, trousers. But even then I knew that when the moment came to create for women, I’d have to do it in a way that truly honours them. That moment is now. It’s a far more complex, more nuanced space and deeply fascinating to me.

4. Akasha was the first collection where AI actively entered the creative process. What does a day working with a machine actually look like and at what point do you realise the machine can’t do what you do?

I love AI, I’ll admit it even if it’s a wildly controversial subject. In practice, I use it a lot on the visual side, for images and video, but it helps me enormously with concepts too. It’s like having someone to brainstorm with around the clock. The limit, though, is very clear: I know AI can’t do what I do because the ideas start with me, and the ones I end up implementing are 100% mine. The machine gives me a direction or sparks ideas of my own, but executing them belongs to me. In the end, these tools are entirely about us and how we direct them.

5. Your collections begin with questions about the world, spirituality, and symbols not with garments. How do you explain to someone who doesn’t know your brand why a piece of clothing needs to have a soul?

For me, a garment is not simply an object it’s a carrier of meaning. My collections always begin with questions that fascinate me, and the clothes become the language through which I materialise those ideas they become, in a sense, the answers. I deeply believe that people feel when a piece has depth, even when they can’t quite explain why. That soul we put into our creations is exactly the difference between a generic product and a real experience.

6. ORIGIN says that some origins lie in the future, not the past. What does a fragment of cosmic DNA look like and why did you choose to put it on the body rather than on a museum wall?

ORIGIN speaks to the idea that our origin is not only in the past but also in the future in a cosmic dimension of consciousness. Cosmic DNA is simply a visual metaphor for that original matrix. I chose to transpose this whole concept onto the body because fashion is the most direct way to bring an idea into real life. I didn’t want it hanging on a museum wall. I wanted it to come alive, to become part of the identity of whoever wears it.

7. You’ve dressed Smiley since 2012, Theo Rose, Andi Moisescu, Irina Rimes. When you dress someone, what are you looking for their existing style, or what they don’t yet know they are?

Somewhere in between, I think. I always start from their identity, but I try to uncover a dimension they haven’t yet expressed. Often, clothes can surface a braver, more authentic version of a person. For me, when I was a stylist, it was always a process of discovery, not just confirmation. With Smiley, we built the image he has today together it was a real creative joint venture.

8. You’re on Farfetch. Your brand is global. But it’s made in Romania, with European materials, with collections launched at the National Library and MINA Museum. What does it mean to be Romanian and global at the same time without having to choose?

I think everyone who makes clothes wants international recognition. I don’t think you have to choose. When a brand gets positioned among the greats of the world, it earns an important international validation. And what’s truly interesting is that once validated abroad, even buyers in Romania become more open to it.

9. Where is Romanian fashion right now and where should it be?

Romanian fashion is in a very strong moment of evolution right now far more mature, braver, and more connected to the international scene than it used to be. When I walk through the centre of Bucharest, I see a lot of people dressed with real cool. Younger generations in particular are searching for authenticity and personal expression with much more intention. The right direction is clearly toward identity, not just toward the trend of the moment.

10. You want to collaborate with Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, The Weeknd. What would it mean to dress one of them and what do you think they have that Romanian artists you work with don’t?

Working with international artists would mean extending my universe into a global space with a very large impact. They have an extremely powerful visual language and they’re completely unafraid to experiment which makes them very compatible with the direction of my brand. It’s not a question of value compared to artists here at home; it’s about context and exposure. International artists simply have more freedom to push visual limits on a global scale.