2025
The way we design clothes is re-imagined with the body’s new form. After the changes brought by mastectomy, Nova uses organic lines and modular design details to embrace the body. Our purpose is to provide clothes that flatter the new form, revealing the beauty behind their journey.
Unilateral Mastectomy Surgery: The Removal of a Single Breast
Dress is essential to daily living. Whether an individual wears clothes out of necessity or is a fashion enthusiast, people dress themselves everyday. Post mastectomy, a woman’s closet is now a collection of clothes that no longer flatter her body. Her favourite tops, dresses, and jackets don’t fit how they used to, and her sense of self is at a loss when she sees the differences. With her asymmetrical chest, she has yet to find clothes that suit her lifestyle and fit well without a prosthetic bra.
The Way We Design Clothing Is Re-imagined
Clothing is designed with symmetrical forms, leaving behind diverse bodytypes. Now that the body has a new form, our way of thinking is shifted.
Creating balance is the key to flatter asymmettry in the body. Not to hide or disguise the asymmetry, rather embrace it. Asymmetry creates a focal point. In the case of a unilateral mastectomy patient, our eye is drawn to the absence of the breast. Using design principles to our advantage, asymmetry can appear intentional — as if nothing is out of the ordinary.
Following the asymmetry, Nova uses design lines, draping techniques, and modular design details to embrace and flatter the chest. Skirts and bottoms complete the silhouette, complimenting the body’s form.
Clara wears the Morph Top, six different ways.
Reversible Front and Back
Modular Design Details:
Customizable Fit and Reversability
Nova engineers patterns in a way that allows the user to customize and flip their top to flatter their form, finding the median between the front and back cut. Rather than the line of symmetry following the center of the body, our line of symmetry goes down the side of the torso, allowing for complete reversibility front and back. Modularity is extended further to design details that give the user freedom to style the garment how they please, such as customizable drape featured in our Morph Top.