D

atura embodies the designer’s Mallorcan upbringing, surrounded by nature, its raw and wild beauty, and her love of city life –  its energy, style and hustle. The summer pieces are elegant and sexy while being looser and casual, or “going on holiday in Europe,” as her New York friends used to say, while “winter pieces can be very structured, back to school, back to city vibe, with coats, and lots of layers,” she notes. She only designs in one-size, which might be unnerving for some at first, but the clothes are “designed to work with different bodies - they can be wrapped or tied or worn open and loose,” she describes. She is also very influenced by Japanese design, including designers such as Issaye Miyake. “Back at the academy,” she says, “I took a free-hand pattern design making class where we did a lot of the cutting by hand and it was about looser forms, which I was very inspired by.”

‍

From the beginning, Datura has taken a sustainable approach to fashion through its use of natural materials, small batches and a direct-to-consumer sales model that avoids the need for cheap overseas labour or heavy shipping requirements. Borras was an early adapter to selling online – starting it up immediately when she launched Datura in 2013 –  and it took time to convince people of its viability and to have confidence in shopping online - a reality that seems hard to imagine these days. While getting set up in New York and wanting to catch the attention of editors and bloggers, but unable to send samples because of the limited supply and cost, she started Member Styles - a concept in which she invited people to try on the clothes in a regular setting for a photoshoot. It was the era when Jurgen Teller, whose raw, sexy ‘natural’ style was on the rise. Stefania captured her brand clearly through these photoshoots, letting the creatives choose the place, the clothes and then together they captured a world that people could connect to, imagine and therefore want to know more about. “This was my favorite part of my job,  going to see people’s houses and seeing their world, because it was often lonely just designing by myself at the studio. It was about making a community,” she explains. From 2013-2020 she ran Datura in New York, her last studio was in Chinatown, and then moved back to Mallorca in 2020 with her family.