“I want laughter. I want smiles, I want kisses, I want friendship,” says Sofía Abadi, on the line from her studio in Buenos Aires. This boisterous lust for life checks out for the 28-year-old Argentinian designer, who’s built a cult following online through her dreamy pieces that evoke the charm of endless sleepovers, hanging out with your best friends, and playing dress-up in your older sister’s closet. “No more of that nonchalant shit,” she says.

Abadi’s whimsy – best characterized by her motto “playfulness is back in fashion” – has clearly resonated in our irony-pilled age. In just a few short years, the designer has amassed a devoted client base, affectionately nicknamed ‘Abadi’s Angels’, who await her drops with the type of fervent devotion often reserved for K-pop idols. She’s also caught the eye of celebrities including Rosalía, Grimes, and Twice member Chaeyoung.

An internet girl to her core, Abadi first found her way into fashion during her early 20s, when she created a Twitter account to participate in the burgeoning hftwt (high fashion Twitter) community, and quickly became one of its central figures. While she’d always loved clothes, she never imagined making them herself. But when the pandemic hit, Abadi, like many others, began taking up knitting. “I started showing what I made, and people liked it,” says the designer. “And I was like, ‘Oh, okay, wait, maybe this is a possibility’.”

She launched her first brand, nana studioz, in 2021, working out of her kitchen with a toy knitting machine. Consisting of cosy knits, these early collections staked out her vision of playful yet sophisticated femininity. The brand won serious love: one of her clients, a trans woman, wrote her a message saying “she had never, ever worn a piece of clothing that made her feel more like a woman and comfortable in her body,” says Abadi. “I read that message and started crying. I was like, ‘I cannot believe it’. That I’m able to impact someone's life from my kitchen.”

Two years later, Abadi shut down nana studioz, taking time off to escape social media and pour herself into her craft. When it came to the infracacies of making clothes, “I had no idea. I really didn’t know anything,” she says. Giving up her established brand just to start over and learn as a beginner was daunting: “I was so scared because I thought, I will lose everything. I will come back and no one will care because everyone’s going to be like, wait, who are you?” But last year, she returned to instant hype with her new brand, Abadi, and shared its first collection Heaven is Outside.

Below, we catch up with Abadi about the Buenos Aires creative scene, her upcoming plans for a couture line, and her secret styling hacks.

“I’ve always designed with a feminine point of view. To me, women are like a fantasy come alive” – Sofía Abadi

What first got you into fashion and designing?

Sofía Abadi: I feel like I’ve always been into fashion ever since I was a little girl. It’s such a cliché story, in my room just drawing outfits. But I do remember that my mother had a friend who was a fashion designer and she had a runway show and I went with my mom. I was super young, I think nine or ten, and at one point my mom was like, ‘You have to pay attention to the next look.’ I had drawn this black skirt with leaf prints on it, and that skirt appeared on the runway. My mum said ‘my friend saw your skirt and she loved it, so she wanted to make it for you.’ That was the first time I ever felt like, ‘well, this is possible.’ It’s not just an idea but something I can execute.

What are the obsessions that guide your work?

Sofía Abadi: I’ve always designed with a feminine point of view. I’ve always thought about women. To me, women are like a fantasy come alive. I think we’re fantastic and I’m always inspired by the feminine. I do this for women and I’m inspired by women.

You’re a fashion genius but also a prolific shitposter. What’s your relationship to the internet like?

Sofía Abadi: I was always on the internet. I loved Twitter. During my high school years, my classmates would be like, ‘oh, there goes Sofía, the girl that’s always tweeting.’ I was always a social media personality. But then I reached a point in my life where I had interests that no one had, that I didn’t share with anyone in high school, and I saw there was this whole community on Twitter.

I made this other fashion-specific account and blocked every single person I know and started tweeting in English so I could be involved in this conversation. I’ve always been an opinionated person and that’s something that I think drew people into my fashion commentary. But they ruined my favorite place on Earth. It’s heartbreaking because I don’t want to make Reels and I don’t want to make TikToks. There was something so inherently erotic about Twitter. You can read what I think, you can have a piece of me, but you don’t know the state of my room. You don’t know how my hair looks right now.

You often collaborate with Buenos Aires-based creatives, and Buenos Aires electropop duo EQ are some of the biggest champions of your clothing. What does the city’s scene mean to you?

Sofía Abadi: I want Buenos Aires to be this beacon of creativity. So many of the creatives that I know have left. That’s an issue here, this brain drain. They leave for Europe or the States to find a better life. For a long time I thought staying was a mistake and that I could have a better career somewhere else, but I want to be in Buenos Aires. I want to build, I want to be able to work here. I want to be able to have the same opportunities that everyone else has in my home and in the place that inspires me. If I have to make the most crazy shit and be the one that is in touch with the rest of the world to tell them to come over and look at us, then that’s my responsibility.

Can you speak more about your inspiration behind Heaven is Outside, your first collection for Abadi?

Sofía Abadi: When I decided to close down nana studioz, social media had basically consumed my brain. I realised that if I wanted to start a brand with a perspective that represented me, I needed to know who I was and not what I was being fed – like, the same five Pinterest pictures that everyone’s looking at. I decided to take a whole year off the Internet. And I thought the collection would be about the experience of being outside and finding myself within the real realm.

In nana studioz I always worked completely by myself. That was very isolating. I’m a control freak and I don’t trust a lot of people. It was very hard for me to work in general because the days that I didn’t feel like working could turn into weeks, and there was no one I had to be responsible for. What Heaven is Outside ended up being about was me finding heaven outside of myself. Letting myself collaborate, letting myself accept help. I realised I can do this because I have people supporting me, because I have people believing in me. And that’s heaven.

“Addison Rae is the Abadi woman if I’ve ever seen one. I saw just saw her live at Lollapalooza and I cried” – Sofía Abadi

You’re also launching Abadi Young Couture, which just got its debut at the Oscars. Can you speak more about your vision for this line?

Sofía Abadi: At the moment, it’s kind of my main focus. Making the dress for Ruby Hawley [daughter of Frankenstein costume designer Kate Hawley] was such a completely different experience than making sweaters or shorts or a regular ready-to-wear. It made me feel so connected with the process. Even though I was in a time crunch, when it came to making it, my mind was at peace. I was like, ‘this is my purpose.’ I’m really, really excited for the future of that line. 

What do you listen to while designing?

Sofía Abadi: Drain Gang is kind of the only thing made by men that I am letting permeate. Bladee has a very feminine and sensitive approach to his lyrics, and Ecco2k is also very genderqueer. I also love Lady Gaga. I was 13 when I went to her concert in Argentina, and I dressed up as her in the “Judas” music video. Also Erika de Casier, Fcukers. I love my friends, the EQ girls, of course. Babymorocco. I actually really love SZA.

Oh, and Addison Rae. That is the Abadi woman if I’ve ever seen one. I saw just saw her live at Lollapalooza and I cried because I was impacted by her stardom and her unabashed self. She exudes star power. She takes up the stage.

Now for some quickfire questions… who were your fashion icons growing up?

Sofía Abadi: My mother, she’s a very fashionable lady. And Miranda Priestly. 

Any secret styling hacks?

Sofía Abadi: Wear the same things every day. Change the accessories: change your hair, change your bag, change the coat.

What fictional character do you most relate to and why?

Sofía Abadi: I’m my own fictional character. I’m my own character living my own life.

What do you reckon you’re most likely to get cancelled for?

Sofía Abadi: Well, I’ve been crucified for saying that I hate ribbons and flowers. Like, literally, I’ve been burned at the stake for that. Everyone’s doing it, can we do anything else?

If you could only wear one designer for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Sofía Abadi: Well, I’m working on it being Abadi, hopefully. But if it’s not me, I think it would be Prada. Mrs P is a basics girl like me, a structured uniform girl like me.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for Abadi’s debut collection