Coleoptera - Everyone Needs an Armour

Coleoptera - Everyone Needs an Armour is a short fashion film that explores resilience, metamorphosis and the armour we carry. Inspired by Coleoptera and the elytra, their natural protective armour, the film uses fashion as a metaphor, portraying women as strong, enduring figures who evolve through light and shadow. This project began as a physical collection during my fashion studies in 2017 at Istituto Cordella, then expanded into new 3D digital designs in 2021 on DressX, and now emerges as film. To create this project I employed AI techniques alongside cinematic editing to reimagine how fashion imagery can convey themes of survival, identity and evolution. AI here is not a shortcut, but a tool to extend craft, allowing a deeply personal narrative, born from years of research into forms, colours and armour, to find new cinematic expression. At its core, the film is a meditation on strength, fragility and poetic brutality. But it is also part of a wider journey. Future chapters will expand this exploration to portray real women and their stories of resilience, whether facing violence, professional barriers or illness. The aim is to spark conversations about empowerment, protection and the light we carry forward. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by armour and coleoptera, with their resilience and beauty hidden beneath protective exoskeletons. Their shapes, their colours, their functions as pollinators...they are extraordinary creatures. Coleoptera reflects my exploration of how fashion, technology and storytelling merge to express strength and metamorphosis. This film is also about women: the armour we build, the light we carry, the evolution we undergo. My hope is that this work contributes to a wider dialogue on resilience and identity.