For the fifth interview of the gasttHouse Series, I spoke to one of Lisbon’s boldest and most idiosyncratic designers, Constança Entrudo!

Constança was raised between Lisbon and Madeira, and later moved to London to study Textile Design at the prestigious Central Saint Martins. While she has previously worked for Balmain and Marques’Almeida, she now brings her singular perspective to her eponymous brand.

You most likely have seen her pieces before, considering that superstars like SZA, Kali Uchis, and Chlöe Bailey have been spotted in her looks. However, Constança has also developed a loyal following, drawing in many with the humour, craftsmanship, and technical innovation that define her work.

Throughout this interview, Constança generously offers her insights on a wide range of topics, from the work of Henry David Thoreau to The Devil Wears Prada.

You can check out more of Constança’s work on her Instagram, and the Constança Entrudo online store. Make sure to check back on Mondays for a new interview with more incredible gasttHouse Guests!

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gastt: Hi Constança, thank you very much for answering my questions! To start, I’d like to ask about your work broadly. I noticed that many of your pieces have a handcrafted quality to them, yet they still reflect a clear and strong creative vision. How much research and planning do you undertake before you actually start to create your pieces?

Constança Entrudo: A lot. Besides the technical and textile-focused side of my work as a designer, my work is a lot about storytelling and bringing humour to clothing. I’m obsessed with people, fantasy, and with process - with sharing narratives continuously, collection after collection. 

gastt: Is there a typical timeline or trajectory you follow when designing your collections?

Constança Entrudo: For every collection, I spend months researching on a topic. Then I start to think, “how can the materials that we’re wearing communicate those stories?” And then I start exploring techniques that can translate it, and sample making. A lot of sample making. 

During this research process, I write a lot too. I’d say one of the most interesting and challenging parts of the process is to translate these written references (all my notes, a book, an article, a song) into visuals and textures that communicate through touch. Only then I start working on the prints, one of the most essential parts of my work — [ they are ] usually handpainted or handcrafted (photography, collages, etc), and then digitised to portray those narratives. 

gastt: In addition to incorporating narratives and storytelling into your work, you also mentioned that you want to bring humour to your pieces. What kind of a role does humour play in your creative process?

Constança Entrudo: A big, big role. People often take themselves too seriously, and high fashion is frequently a way to appear more 'proper', or to hide our flaws. 

For me, humour in fashion isn’t about using pop elements or weird proportions; it’s about making people question what’s wrong or right, what’s ugly or beautiful, and Who They Are to judge that. It’s obviously about making people more conscious and empowered, but also more aware of our differences. 

To laugh at ourselves makes us less precious about our existence and appearance, leading to greater freedom and understanding. The world needs more understanding and tolerance.

gastt: Definitely. It really seems like there is a huge amount of intent and thought behind every single creative choice you make. Do you also leave some room in your design process to experiment and improvise?

Constança Entrudo: Experimentation and intuition are part of what we do all the time — absolutely. I don’t know any other way to play and innovate with fabrics and materials without them. Obviously, these processes involve embracing unpredictability. However, when it comes to improvisation, it’s tricky to take that approach in the fashion industry as it’s built today. It requires a lot of planning in advance, time, and trial and error.

gastt: Even though you need to plan things far in advance, I think you manage to preserve an organic quality in your pieces. When I reflect on your entire body of work, it seems like you often diverge from many of the traditional Western ideas of “perfection” that the fashion industry tends to prioritise. For example, my eye is often drawn to your “un-weaving” technique, the distressing of garments, the asymmetry, the deconstruction. Would you say there is a philosophical or symbolic reason behind this? Or do you simply find these kinds of “imperfections” attractive or interesting? 

Constança Entrudo: There’s a strong message behind this technique, which is the philosophy of our brand, this idea of “un-weaving" — where one element leads to another, and stories emerge by rejecting the loom and its traditional structures. 

As a textile designer, I’ve explored the main mediums: weaving, knitting, and print. I love weaving, but the loom’s structured approach — especially the weft — felt limiting. Traditional weaving interlaces two sets of yarns at right angles: the warp and the weft, but I wanted to break free from that constraint. So, I started developing this technique that aims to deconstruct pre-existing weaving fundamentals by creating a distressed-looking fabric where all threads look loose — free. 

It results from a process involving bonded threads (warp only), all meticulously made by hand, thread by thread, woven directly on the pattern piece to create as little waste as possible. These pieces take over a week to make. 

This handcrafted process might have a very imperfect look. However, it comes from a long process of research and technology.

gastt: Given your focus on minimising waste through the techniques you've developed, I’d guess that sustainability is a big part of your brand ethos and creative process. To what extent would you say this is true?

Constança Entrudo: I’d say when I started the studio and this un-weaving technique, the idea was to only use repurposed materials (especially yarns). I used to get loads of bin bags to my flat in London with leftovers and waste yarns from the factories in Portugal, and some London studios. 

However, some of these methods were left aside following the growth of the studio and buyers’ / the industry’s demands, and its preconceived ideas on materials, and what's commercially acceptable or not. We introduced a lot of new ways of producing, and materials that were not as sustainable. 

gastt: Did you feel pushed to make certain sacrifices due to the pressures of the fashion industry?

Constança Entrudo: I'm not blaming the industry, as it was my choice to want to grow this way. However, in the past few years I've been trying to go back to a lot of these processes and find partnerships with factories in Portugal again to develop this circular process into something bigger. 

For me, it’s not about using existing fabrics, as I don’t find it stimulating to work with pre-existing designs or repurpose materials from other brands. It’s about rethinking materials that were destined to be discarded and finding ways to turn them into fabrics.

gastt: Is it difficult for you to strike a balance between your commitment to sustainable practices, and working in ways that are creatively stimulating?

Constança Entrudo: One thing does not compromise the other. But somehow, there’s that idea in high fashion that sustainable materials are less cool, or will give a weird look to the designs. There are so many options out there. Sometimes it's more of a budget question than aesthetics.

gastt: Speaking of budgets, I would love to hear more about sustainability from your perspective as an independent brand. What are some of the ways you incorporate sustainable practices into your work and production process?

Constança Entrudo: We’re making our best effort to use monofibers, reducing the synthetics percentage in each collection, and using mostly recycled or organic. It’s not the easiest as we’re small scale, but we try. 

When it comes to production, we try to engineer all fabrics (printed, woven, knitted) to the pattern pieces, so we create minimum waste. We usually work with very small stock, mostly made-to-order or by testing the demand on social media / different platforms before sending things to production. 

gastt: Are there other things you consider when striving to create in a sustainable way?

Constança Entrudo: Sustainability for me is also about making people feel included when thinking, wearing, or working with us. We produce prototypes of all sizes, and also produce sizes from XS to XXL. We give creative space and a voice to everyone involved in the process of making our collections, and engage with universities and schools in Portugal to promote and inspire younger designers. 

We try to give as much detail on how to wash our pieces through the care labels. Durability is so important, and it is so difficult to educate people on this - we’ve been putting a lot of effort into this.

gastt: I think you’re touching on some of the challenges that many brands encounter when attempting to create in a more sustainable way. How have you dealt with them?

Constança Entrudo: I actually enjoy working with limitations and challenges. Adapting designs to the material’s nature and characteristics makes the process more interesting. It’s all about testing, researching, and finding solutions. In the past, we faced issues when a prototype made in one fabric didn’t match the recycled version used in production, so we learned to test, test, test - to avoid surprises. 

Obviously cost is definitely the biggest challenge — sustainable materials still come at a higher price.

gastt: How do you ensure that your work is as sustainable as possible, without limiting its accessibility?

Constança Entrudo: We try our best to also integrate these organic, recycled, etc. materials gradually so our prices don’t go up all of a sudden. It’s tricky, but for SS25 we’ve managed to reduce the synthetic fibres a lot. It helps that we’re based in Portugal, and we have this proximity to factories.

gastt: Do you find it frustrating when customers expect low prices, in addition to ethical manufacturing practices?

Constança Entrudo: I feel like there’s loads of brands in the market, all with highly competitive prices, and many claiming their products are responsible — that’s the tricky part. People just need better information, as there’s not much relevant content out there. I don’t blame big brands and platforms for not promoting sustainability, but it would be great to see more about making clothes last and why that matters. Encouraging curiosity about who made our clothes and the conditions behind them is key. It’s hard to understand how fast fashion is still a thing…

gastt: How do you differentiate between legitimately sustainable practices, and greenwashing? 

Constança Entrudo: I think it's about focusing on our client-brand relationship and having a real conversation, rather than just marketing strategies and using key words to tick the box. 

I’ve recently been very obsessed with all these marketing campaigns, especially with fast fashion / lifestyle brands. I find it so funny [when I’m] going through the streets and [see] “100% transparent”, “conscious”, “organic, “repurposed” popping in any brand's window selling the most random products. Sometimes it's better to say the minimum possible, and just actually make the best effort possible to minimise the impact, the most natural way. 

gastt: As a complement to your environmentally conscious practices behind the scenes, there are often many natural motifs visible in your work. For example, the prints in your SS25 collection, and the Seastar Prints from SS24. To what extent would you say that nature and the natural world influence your work? 

Constança Entrudo: It's funny because I consider myself a 'city girl.' I love big cities,  the energy of people - I don’t seem to mind the fast pace. However, my collections often explore the idea of escape, particularly through empty landscapes, highlighting this dichotomy.  

Before the pandemic, my prints were more abstract. This is when I started with the natural motifs, with this idea of nature with no human intervention, of the passage of time - how in a way, nature keeps evolving with or without us, but the other way around doesn’t happen.  

During the pandemic, I read a Guardian article titled ‘We Are All Edward Hopper Paintings Now’ [by Jonathan Jones], which explored how Hopper's empty cityscapes and isolated figures resonate with the loneliness and alienation of modern life, and how the pandemic has given his work a terrifying new significance.
This inspired me to look at nature almost as a voyeur, collecting images and crafting beautiful landscapes that make us pause and reflect: when the freedoms of modern life are removed, what’s left but loneliness?

gastt: How do you see this perspective on nature manifesting in your work?

Constança Entrudo: I enjoy playing with the contrast between natural and human-made elements. For SS25, we explored this tension through the idea of a soul seeking salvation in an idyllic beach setting — someone diving underwater to drown — a visceral, almost self-destructive search for escape (the collection name is "SOS"), and ending up in the ancient seas of the Cambrian period. Many of our prints used striped cotton resembling beach shirts, printed with sea motifs to capture the feeling of sinking underwater, fully dressed for a beach day.

As the prints were crafted from a very old issue of Life Magazine, we tried to manipulate denim through embroideries that mimicked aged paper, and printed the sea landscapes on top. It's always about this duality between humanity and nature.

gastt: Why do you think nature can be such a potent source of artistic inspiration for you?

Constança Entrudo: It reduces us to our own insignificance reminding us of how small we are in the grand scheme of things. I think it’s important to bring that thought once in a while to fashion. 

And also, I’m from Madeira…

gastt: Speaking of dualities between nature and human-made elements, it seems that you often engage with technology in interesting ways as a part of your creative process. How do you preserve the craftsmanship and artisanal qualities of your pieces, while also working with innovative technologies?

Constança Entrudo: I think they have to go hand in hand - always. Technology is not just a monster - it’s also here to make our lives easier, make our days more efficient. I believe in craft so much, in people too, but above all I believe in creativity, in design - in making new stuff, generating ideas. 

Handcrafted processes take so much time that a lot of times, people that work in craft don’t have the opportunity to learn about design processes, to think, to be intellectually stimulated through work. That’s very important for me: that everyone around me has the freedom to think, to think critically on what they’re doing. 

gastt: How have your experiences working with artisans been, considering that they often work in a more traditional way?

Constança Entrudo: We’ve done a lot of projects with artisans where we always try to bring technology at some point of the project. But it's so difficult, as institutions are so protective of craft and romanticise it a lot of times in a delusional way. They create this idea that craft people don’t want change, but they just don’t allow artisans to be exposed to innovation, to creativity, to making their jobs a little easier. 

We did some collections and projects in partnership with Madeira Embroidery - a very well known embroidery technique from the island where I am from. We tried to involve artisans in our processes, to simplify some steps of the process with technology, and it seemed so difficult in the beginning. By the end, it was great. At the end of one project, an artisan confessed to me, 'I have to admit that with this project, I realised that what’s right and beautiful for me may not be the same for someone else.' 

This realization, while seemingly obvious, was quite profound. [It] made me realize how we often take the freedom of thought for granted.

gastt: Looking forward, how do you see the relationship between humanity and technology developing? Are you more optimistic, pessimistic, or neutral overall?

Constança Entrudo: I used to be overly optimistic about technology — I saw it as machinery that applied scientific knowledge. I was almost like living the legacy of the Space Age dreams. 

But recently I've been more aware of its limitations. I read this line in ‘Walden’ by Henry David Thoreau the other day: 'Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at…' It makes me question whether we’re focusing too much on making things faster and easier, rather than thinking deeply about what truly needs improvement. I’m also worried about the loss of unpredictability in our lives – technology is managing uncertainty, making life feel overly controlled and predictable.

gastt: Can you see new technologies impacting your own art in the future? If so, how?

Constança Entrudo: Yes, it will for sure. More and more. I hope it can keep helping me to find ways to waste less materials, to be more sustainable and effective. Advanced digital printing can add depth to our prints, while AI could optimize production to save on waste and energy. Plus, digital tools for virtual prototypes would let me experiment with fabric manipulation without using extra resources. 

I wish I’d be using all of these tools by now, but it's still so expensive. I believe it will also help to communicate the complexity of our fabrics online, which is something we struggle with right now.

gastt: Are there more materials and mediums you want to explore in the future that you have yet to venture into?

Constança Entrudo: Yes, a lot. I want to focus on working with monofibers as they can make recycling easier and cleaner. However, creating fabrics with the same richness and tactile qualities we’re known for will be challenging with this method, so I’ll be experimenting heavily with new techniques in fabric manipulation to achieve those textures and feels.

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gastt: Thank you so much once again for your time, and for sharing your insights. To end our conversation on a high note, I’d like to ask: what are some positive developments in the fashion industry from the past few years that you are excited about?

Constança Entrudo: Seeing people from all backgrounds now working in fashion, bringing much-needed representation. Diversity in body types, gender expressions, and backgrounds has made fashion feel more relatable and inclusive, though there’s still progress to be made. This applies to geographical aspects of fashion: it’s no longer centred only in the main fashion capitals. 

Also, with bigger brands adopting a more inclusive approach (even if not always in pricing), people feel closer to fashion and more aware of design. It’s helping to break down that 'Devil Wears Prada' image of the industry.

gastt: Finally, If you had to describe your SS25 collection using only three emojis, which ones would you choose?

Constança Entrudo: 🤯🛟🪸

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Graphic Design and Interview Conducted by gastt Fashion / @_gastt .

Media via Constança Entrudo.

Special Thanks:

Constança Entrudo, Claudia & Ashley and the Lobby PR Team.

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