Milwaukee-based fashion designer MISHKA gave a first look at her new collection Project Nymphéa at Milwaukee Artist Resource Network’s Art + Culture Hub on Wednesday. A video of the collection, directed by Pearl Nemecek, also debuted at the event.

“With this collection, I really wanted to highlight the movement in the pieces and also the hypnotic feel that is the siren concept,” says MISHKA. “And I thought the best way to really do that would be a video.”

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MISHKA, whose given name is Maria Olsson, is a year out of fashion school at Mount Mary University. Her new collection is based on the Greek myth of the siren’s song, “exploring a dark feminine energy that hypnotizes all who are in its presence.”

“I was in New York during my internship, and I was literally listening to music in the shower, and it kind of all just clicked for me, with the music being very lyrical and enticing, and then the water and the movement,” she says about what inspired the collection.

Project Nymphéa collection by MISHKA; Photo by Brianna Schubert

Now that the collection, which she has been working on since January, is finished, her next focus is building her brand and learning the business side of fashion.

The runway show also featured two other designers’ work – Nohemi Chavez and Patricia Golden, both also recent graduates of Mount Mary’s fashion program.

“I’ve been so fortunate that I got into the local art scene and the community and that I’ve gotten a lot of really good opportunities, so I wanted to kind of give back and loop in some other fellow students and kind of try and get them more out there with their own fashion brands,” MISHKA says.