L’IDÉE

L’IDÉE is an Australian-founded womenswear label established in 2019 by Breeana Smith and Iuliia Ievdokymenko. Its structure has been transnational from the outset: Smith developed the commercial and brand framework from Australia and Europe, while Ievdokymenko, based in Bali, became the principal design and production authority. The house built its identity around heat-set pleating, using polyester as an architectural material for umbrella, sunburst, ribbed and accordion forms that can hold volume without conventional internal structure.

Early wholesale support in Australia preceded a broader international expansion through retailers including David Jones, The Iconic, Moda Operandi and Revolve. The 2022 Magnifique runway at Australian Fashion Week gave the label its first major institutional platform; later campaigns and presentations moved through Tuscany, Paris and Miami before the house returned to Australian Fashion Week in 2026 with ICONIQUE. That 30-look show combined established pleated signatures with new 2026 work and was conceived and styled for the runway by guest creative director Pip Edwards while the founders retained control of the garments and continuing brand direction.

L’IDÉE treats pleating as the primary means of constructing silhouette. Ievdokymenko develops patterns around the behaviour of heat-set synthetic cloth, using narrow ribs to skim the torso, broad umbrella folds to build movement through skirts and dresses, and asymmetric or tiered structures to change the scale of familiar occasionwear forms. The emphasis falls on proportion, motion and the memory of the textile itself: the permanent fold carries much of the shaping that tailoring, boning or heavy seaming would provide elsewhere.

The production system depends on a specialist Indonesian pleating facility that fixes the fabrics through industrial thermofixation. L’IDÉE’s creative work happens in the design of the moulds, pattern geometry, cut and placement of those pleats, while the external factory supplies the heat-setting expertise required to make the structures durable. Across collections, the house has widened that vocabulary with metallic surfaces, mesh, sequins, layered proportions and increasingly varied pleat scales, maintaining a recognisable formal language while adapting it to different markets and presentation contexts.