SiEGenThaLER: The Art of Becoming Anyone

In a quiet studio where garments shift, transform, and refuse to settle into a single identity, SiEGenThaLER is building a language of clothing that moves as fluidly as the person wearing it. 

Born between cultures, trained outside fashion, and shaped by construction rather than convention, designer Duc Siegenthaler of his epnomymous brand, SiEGenThaLER, approaches clothing not as a fixed statement but as possibility. 

Born in Ho Chi Minh City, half Chinese and half Vietnamese, and raised in Switzerland, Duc did not come from a traditional fashion background. He studied science – chemistry, biology, engineering.  At first, his educational background feels far from fashion, but there is a structure in the way he thinks. He doesn’t just design garments – he builds them. 

Fashion came later, almost unexpectedly. After graduating at HEAD (Geneva University of Art and Design) he went on to work under Glenn Martens, focusing on tailoring and construction. That discipline is still very present in his work today. 

Clothes are for “someone playful”

Playful, not in a superficial way, but in how they approach identity. Growing up as Asian and queer, Duc didn’t always know where he belonged. He adapted and shifted depending on the space, the people, the moment. Instead of rejecting that, he built from it. His clothes are not about defining one identity. They allow you to create several identities.

The idea is clear in his design process. He doesn’t begin with a fixed drawing which can limit him. He deconstructs garments, studies them, then rebuilds them. Buttons, snaps, drawstrings — these are not just details, but tools for transformation. 

One piece can create multiple silhouettes and adapt because of modular construction, leaving space for creative expression to happen naturally and giving each creation life. 

The latest Fall/Winter 2026-2027 (FW26/26) collection continues this in a more intimate way and is filled with a quiet tension between inside and outside. Some pieces feel like sleepwear, soft, fluid, close to the body, but can easily shift into something more formal, more outward. It sits in that in-between space, not fully private nor public. 

Another element of the collection is the underlying essence of sustainability, not as a statement, but as a way of thinking. You don’t need more as each piece already provides endless possibilities. 

SiEGenThaLER FW26/27 Collection

Photos courtesy of SiEGenThaLER

Expanding beyond fashion

Duc Siegenthaler has begun creating for performers, including a vaulter, an evolution that feels entirely instinctive. His garments are designed to move, adapt, and respond to the body, making this expansion a seamless continuation of this design language, with new projects already taking shape on the horizon. 

At the same time, the brand is growing. His pieces will soon be available at Beams in Tokyo, a perfect match. There is something in his work that resonates with a Japanese sensibility. The attention to detail, the quiet complexity, the freedom within structure. 

Fashion often tries to define people quickly by dictating a style and resulting in identity. But Duc Siegenthaler offers something else. He creates space to move and explore. His work feels honest. It doesn’t try to corner you into one version of yourself. It lets you become anyone you desire.

Hear more from designer Duc Siegenthaler in this interview captured during Paris Fashion Week in March 2026.