Josiane Martinho (1995) is a fashion and costume designer, as well as a stylist. Based between Neuchâtel and Geneva, she works freelance across Switzerland and France.
Trained at HEAD - Genève, she has developed, since her graduate collection, a practice that explores our intimate relationship to clothing. Her work focuses particularly on "memory garments": pieces that are kept but no longer worn, found, inherited or gifted, whose symbolic and emotional value grants them the status of objects.
Through found objects, vintage clothing, and gestures of transformation or reactivation, she investigates notions of appropriation, use, and personal narrative. Her practice also examines her own wardrobe and the ways chance encounters, everyday détourning, and instinctive associations can generate a sincere and spontaneous way of wearing clothes.
In 2017, she completed an internship at BLESS. In 2018, her graduate collection received both the Bongénie Prize and the Excellence Award from the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. Between 2019 and 2020, she trained within the jersey and knitwear departments at Y/Project.
Since 2020, she has collaborated with the publication l'idiot utile, leading its fashion direction and styling. This ongoing project has become a space for experimentation, allowing her to explore alternative ways of presenting, performing, and activating clothing outside conventional fashion frameworks.
Since 2021, she has worked as a freelance stylist on campaigns and editorial projects, while also designing costumes for performers, dancers, and stage directors. This multifaceted relationship to clothing informs a practice situated between consulting, styling, collaboration, and personal research.
In 2025, she received the Fashion and Textile Design Award at the Swiss Design Awards for her project The Garment as Receptacle.
Clients
Grand Théâtre de Genève, Petite Friture, Worn, CHEHAB, Iman Ama, Mariel Manuel, HEAD - Genève, HSLU, IPAC Design, HSLU - Hochschule Luzern, UNICA Culture Nice, Association Confettis, HoneyHoneyDanceDance, Kidows Kim, lisa laurent, Compagnie Muês, Théâtre de La Recherche, Cassiane Pfund
Services
- Styling
- Fashion design
- Costume design
- Custom garments
- Creative direction
- Consulting
- Textile development
- Knit development