“Within the Amazon, where I live, I feel that the Caribbean has a robust influence—on our music for instance, something that actually makes my body pulsate,” says Young. “The new and humid climate is filled with water that creates a reference to the body. The plants are also on this same context: how they form across the body and tell a story.”

The storytelling element was key for Ames, who assigned each of the designers a micro theme to work inside. Fredrik Tjærandsen, the Norwegian designer whose giant balloon dresses achieved viral status at his Central Saint Martins graduate show in 2019, considered the phoenix; “exploring how the human body can metaphorically embody its transformative nature,” in his words. “Fredrik had different pumps, and was inflating these huge latex pieces,” Ames explains. “He also does choreography, so numerous his pieces are designed to maneuver.”