Dana Toder is the independent designer turning “the emotional weight of what we carry” into something literal. Toder’s latest creation, a meter long leather bag printed with a collage of photographs spanning from the 1970’s to present day and now taken to the street by none other than Rosalía. We caught up with Dana to chat about their creative process, their inspiration and creating a bag big enough to carry all of our emotional baggage.
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Perfect: Can you tell us about the bag you created that Rosalía just wore?
“I custom made it for Lili Conzen’s upcoming short film KRÄHE, which places women over seventy in the spotlight of fashion. We imagined a “What’s in My Bag?” moment where the contents become a way of telling someone’s life story, each object opening up a memory. I wanted those memories to exist on the outside, too. The bag is made from genuine leather printed with a collage I created from photographs belonging to me, Lili, and the women appearing in the film. The images stretch from the 1970s to the present, bringing different generations and personal histories together on one surface. At a metre long and sixty centimetres high, the bag makes the emotional weight of what we carry almost literal. It holds that tension between something intimate and something impossible to overlook.”
Perfect: What was the process for creating that bag?
“The process began with a lot of back and forth between me, Lili, the filmmaker, and Sabine, who appears in the scene. We shared photographs and personal experiences, talking about what fashion means to different generations and where those experiences meet. Those conversations, alongside interviews with other women in the film, shaped the graphic: a collective archive of memories and the things we wear. I then tested different leathers and printing techniques. I wanted the images to feel embedded in the leather, and experimented with distressing the surface to give it character, as though it already carried a life of its own. Finding the right combination of leather, print, and texture took several attempts. Once I achieved that feeling, I worked with my eighty-year-old leatherworking mentor, Shmulik, to develop the scale, shape, and construction of the bag.”
Perfect: Talk us through your creative process when creating a look.
“It usually starts with an emotion or experience that stays with me. Because I’m fascinated by how memories subconsciously influence what we wear, I almost automatically begin translating that feeling into a garment or an accessory. I carry my film camera everywhere, collecting images that I want to turn into something physical and lasting. Conversations with friends and other creative women often reveal that something I thought was personal is actually shared. Those connections help an idea grow beyond my own story. From there, I imagine the imagery and silhouette together. The shapes are often simple; the expression comes through the relationship between image, material, and construction. I’m also a 3D artist, so I first build a digital model to visualise what’s in my head. Then I experiment with materials, graphics, and printing techniques, including 3D printing onto fabric. I work on the images until they feel more like memories than complete photographs, leaving room for people to connect through their own experiences.”
Perfect: Have you got a favourite piece you’ve created?
“This bag brings together so much of how I see fashion. My next full collection, launching in 2027, will develop that language through smaller bags for everyday wear, alongside other leather pieces and ready-to-wear. Another favourite is a sunray-pleated skirt from my BA graduation collection. I created the print using edited imagery from films I love, including Gummo and Wong Kar-wai’s films, manipulating the images until they felt like fragments of memory. That collection was the starting point for the questions I’m still exploring: what getting dressed means, how clothes carry emotion, and what I can contribute through my own perspective. It also included a collaboration with Stratasys, experimenting with 3D printing onto textiles and finding ways to give those memories a physical dimension beyond a conventional print.”