Talents X Talents: blending talent with fashion and entertainment

Talents X Talents is born: a creative factory blending talent with fashion and entertainment

Polimoda and celebrity stylist Rebecca Baglini launch a project dedicated to the blending of fashion with other artistic disciplines. In the first episode, music is the protagonist: students collaborate with artists MYDRAMA and cmqmartina.

Polimoda and celebrity stylist Rebecca Baglini present Talents X Talents, a new project dedicated to merging explosive creativity with the talent of emerging young people in different artistic fields. The protagonists of the first installment—dedicated to music—are artists MYDRAMA and cmqmartina. For this project, a team of students from the fashion school curated a series of looks to create an iconic photography campaign for both artists.

Fashion Design, Fashion Styling and Art Direction students worked with two musical artists who participated in the latest edition of X Factor. Different artistic fields came together with a common goal in mind: to create something innovative and fresh during this historical moment. The world needs to start dreaming again and witnessing artistic role models who are exquisite talents is a perfect start.

The outcome of the collaboration is a photography campaign that brings forward the unique style of the two artists while also giving students an out-of-the-ordinary real-life work experience.

SOMEBODY a poem by BADA DIABY

Following up on his 2018 short film Softness of Bodies, director Jordan Blady continues to explore poetry through film with his latest personal project. The short film, a collaboration with 22-year old Czech literary poet and model Bad’a Diaby, is an interpretation of one of her most important and powerful poems, Somebody. Shot over three days in Prague in the summer of 2020, the film also marks Diaby’s acting debut.

The poem addresses Gen Z’s longing for clarity and guidance. The opening lines “You don’t know who you are or where you belong until you meet somebody”, refer to our tendency to rely on others for meaning. However, we soon realise that the certainty we are searching for has to come from within. A journey of self-discovery, Somebody is a relatable, honest and emotionally charged statement on learning how to feel comfortable in one’s own skin.

With Somebody Blady breaks away from a more traditional narrative-led style, translating the poem into cinema by leading with visuals and focusing on a more symbolic reflection of its words. Supported by Slovak stylist and emerging designer Dominika Kozakova, New Zealander music producer Aaron Short and Czech cinematographer Igor Smitka, the short film transports us into an ethereal and distorted dream-like universe through its sound, locations, photography and clothing.

Commenting on the short film, Blady states: “Before it became a film, this was Bad’a’s poem. So it was very important to me to create something that she would feel comfortable with and proud of. I didn’t want to get stuck in a world of narrative parameters, so I just let the deceptive simplicity of the poem guide me".

Diaby adds: “Somebody is about meeting with yourself and finding out who you truly are. It becomes a very personal work for the reader, triggering emotions about their own journey but with an overarching truth - that happiness has to come from within”. 

SOMEBODY a poem by BADA DIABY from Jordan Blady on Vimeo.

Berlinde De Bruyckere: Engelenkeel

Berlinde De Bruyckere: Engelenkeel on show at Bonnefanten museum in Maastricht.
10.02.2021 — 26.09.2021 

Her raw, intriguing sculptures, installations and drawings draw strength from vulnerability and tenderness in the face of relentlessness. In this exhibition, she is taking new steps on her artistic path, in search of the meaning of humanity, physicality, suffering and vitality. The themes in De Bruyckere’s work have a universal and timeless value. But they gain extra urgency in times when, prompted by an unknown pandemic, the need for human connection is greater than ever, while at the same time the body has become a danger to mankind.
De Bruyckere’s compelling sculptures have a long and complex creative history. Much of her work is constructed of wax, resin, rope, skins and canvas, which she sometimes exposes to the elements for years before incorporating them into her art. Despite their confronting character the sculptures cry out to be touched and stroked, and exude warmth and the tangibility of existence. It is this powerful resonance that has made De Bruyckere one of the most important West European artists, ever since the early days of her career. These monumental works are inspired by the idea of an angel, as portrayed in myths, stories, literature and art history. Conceived in the loneliness and isolation of the corona crisis, the angel guards against a lonely existence and, even more importantly, against a lonely death. According to Berlinde, an angel – with its warm, dark wings – provides protection; a refuge from fear. It is a wonderful example of the fragile line De Bruyckere treads between artistic poeticism and engagement with current affairs. 

 The exhibition Engelenkeel has been put together with recent work from 2014 to the present. The themes on which De Bruyckere has focused in recent years have been brought together here for the first time, revealing their underlying common ground. The Bonnefanten also presents her latest, never-before-seen work, which saw the light of day during the corona crisis. 

More information: www.bonnefanten.nl

Alex - Luca Spreafico

Exploring the more narrative soul of fashion film while staying true to the genre’s strong focus on aesthetics, Alex tells us of a woman reliving and working through a trauma. Inspired by EMDR therapy, the film looks at abandonment during childhood as something that is likely to accompany us into adulthood. Through an experimental, movement-led approach, Alex takes us on a journey into the human psyche.

Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem - PURPOSE

Collectie Arnhem
Photo: Wendelien Daan
Styling: Mary-Lou Berkulin / model: Lisette Ros

Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem 2021 re- examines the PURPOSE of the current fashion system 

The new edition of the Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem will officially start soon on the 3rd of June 2021. This year, together with designers, artists and partners, the festival has a hybrid character due to the current global pandemic.

Together with designers, partners and curators Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem will investigate how the desire for a deeper purpose manifests itself in fashion and design. And how the fashion system is reinventing itself, after the reset.

It is about PURPOSE, but certainly also about REPURPOSE and a reset of the fashion system in a contemplative way. The festival zooms in on the way in which fashion and product design responds to the changing focus from material to immaterial happiness and purpose, based on the ten dimensions.

The ten dimensions refer to domains such as consumption, gender equality, ratio, emotion, empathy and are derived from the Tree of Life of Kabbalistic teachings, with the aim of finding a perfect balance in a combination of these dimensions.
The entire program this year is focused on showing different paradigms in the dimensions, allowing visitors to see that contemporary ideas about PURPOSE, sustainability to find a new balance and fundamental mentality shift.

Photo: Wendelien Daan
Styling: Mary-Lou Berkulin
Design: Schepers Bosman

The seventh edition of the festival will take place from 3 June to 3 July 2021 in Arnhem city center, with a COVID-19 proof set-up, a high-quality hybrid festival, where online and offline events alternate and complement each other. Every week a number of dimensions from the overarching theme 'PURPOSE' are highlighted. FDFA offers depth on the theme every week by means of videos and hybrid events. The programming takes place mainly on Thursdays and Fridays in June and is organized in collaboration with partners of the FDFA.

The digital program consists of an opening week with designer talks on the theme PURPOSE within the ten dimensions. Throughout the month, the FDFA presents digital programs, such as video interviews with the talents within the dimensions, how they create videos about the creative process and craft with local Arnhem designers and substantive visual installations. The FDFA lets experts talk about the hacks for a sustainable, upcycled wardrobe, and where clothing comes from.

The FDFA gives a seminar on PURPOSE & RE-PURPOSE and within the themes talks are hosted about sustainable projects such as The Linen Project and Fashion For Good about the future of circular design and new biobased materials. The Linen Project is investigating whether it is possible to start the local production of flax, linen and (linen) products in a sustainable manner in the Netherlands, so that the quality and origin of the products can be brought back to a local level. On the interactive parts, workshops are given in crafts such as screen printing and knitting. During the Fashion Month, the final exam students of ArtEZ University of Arts and Rijn IJssel Creative Industry will show their graduation collections.

View the program: www.fdfarnhem.nl/programma

The theme
The last generations in the Netherlands have grown up in a consumer society in which fast fashion, rapid trend changes and mass consumption are the norm. Due to the internet and social media, beauty ideals are taking on more and more unnatural forms worldwide. Driven by algorithms, the pressure to live up to these ideals is increasing. The performance society dictates an unending quest for perfection, but the downside of the quest is an increase in burnouts. And the use of antidepressants and drugs is on the rise. At the same time, a counter-movement is emerging in which the interest in mindfulness and yoga expresses itself in a search for a deeper form of purpose and meaning. In short, this group wants to rethink today's performance society. And they are trying to change the consumption patterns that underlie it.

The University of Utah concluded that spiritual experiences cause the brain to produce dopamine and provide much the same pleasure as with sex, gambling and the use of stimulants. More than ever, we seem to be looking for meaning and happiness in our lives. Happiness that we apparently don't find in our current, busy performance society. Following this trend, the Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem this year focuses on the theme of meaning with its participating designers, artists, partners and the public on the basis of the ten dimensions.

More information about FDFA: https://fdfarnhem.nl

 

SISY PHUS (MYRZA DE MUYNCK) model Lisette Ros
Fotografie Wendelien Daan ©2020 Styling Mary-Lou Berkulin
Assistant Photo Robin Griffin Studio Umsjatka

Global Design Graduate Show 2021

Global Design Graduate Show 2021 in collaboration with GUCCI is open to all art and design students (undergraduate and postgraduate) graduating this year 2021 (Southern hemisphere graduating after October 2020) in any related discipline, located anywhere in the world.

Global Design Graduate Show 2021 is your chance to share your creative work alongside your peers from around the world and get it judged by industry leaders.

ENTRY: Free to apply

DEADLINE TO APPLY: August 31 2021

4482 students from 347 schools uploaded their end of year projects in 2020 and took part in this first of its kind, biggest ever online showcase!  

Enter Global Design Graduate Show 2021

Duran Lantink - spring summer 2021

Duran Lantink known presented his first digital catwalk show. The presentation is filmed with models followed by drones while walking through the Palace Soestdijk in the Netherlands, with a fleet of drones showing them the way through. 

For this collection he used all the leftovers from his studio, from designer pieces to old military garments, he’s dismantled everything to create something new: The fabric of a bright pink Balenciaga skirt became the hood of a vintage leather jacket featuring old Moschino dollar sign embellishments. A Louis Vuitton monogrammed leather panel has been patched onto the body of a mannish wool coat.
On his newly launched e-commerce platform, customers have the ability to resell their Duran Lantink pieces through the brand, or bring them back to be dismantled and redesigned.  

More information and lookbook: https://duranlantink.com/ssaw21

 

Sangue Novo - ModaLisboa Comunidade

Fora the Jogo

ModaLisboa Comunidade edition took place from April 15 - 18 fully digitally. In tradition, one of the recurring events was Sangue Novo contest.

In September 2020 edition, ModaLisboa announced the 10 young Designers elected from the first phase of the Sangue Novo competition and, a month later, with a digital presentation at the MODALISBOA MAIS Resort space, the judges chose the five finalists. Andreia Reimão, Ari Paiva, Arndes, Fora de Jogo and Rafael Ferreira are the five protagonists of the first entirely digital Sangue Novo contest and today, at MODALISBOA COMUNIDADE, they presented their final collections.

Miguel Flor, Rosário de Mello e Castro, Ricardo Andrez, Adriano Batista, Massimiliano Giornetti and Ricardo Silva closely followed the creative process of these five Designers, through digital mentoring meetings until they presented their new collection at Prata Riversidade Village, in Lisbon, where the winners have been announced.

Fora the Jogo, the project of Designer João Januário, was chosen for the ModaLisboa Prize in partnership with Tintex Textiles: a three-week residency at Tintex and a monetary prize of 2000 euros.

ARNDES

ARNDES, by Ana Rita de Sousa, received the ModaLisboa prize in partnership with Polimoda: a Master in Fashion Design, or Master in Collection Design, at Polimoda, and a monetary prize of 3500 euros.

Last but not least, the much-anticipated ModaLisboa prize in partnership with MOCHE - an award where the recognition doesn't come from the jury, but from the public who voted on their favorite Designer through the ModaLisboa app - was given to Rafael Ferreira, who receives a 1500 euros scholarship.

The Sangue Novo contest continues to drive, guide and reveal new talents in Fashion Design, fulfilling its mission of building a window to the future. It is here that we continue to find the maximum exponent of creativity, the freedom of creation, the imagination without reins. And this is where we always come back looking for inspiration. We will always need Sangue Novo (eng.: new blood) to continue.

More information: modalisboa.pt

 

Redress Design Award 2021 Semi Finalists

The Redress Design Award announced the semi-finalists of its 11th cycle – 30 talented sustainable designers from across the globe representing the future of fashion. This year, for the first time in the programme’s history, the public has been invited as an official judge to determine via online vote one designer from the semi-finalists to directly enter the final round of the competition. The winner of this People's Choice Award will present their collection at the Grand Final Show in September 2021, alongside nine other finalists to be selected by an international panel of expert judges.

Help decide which of the 30 Redress Design Award Semi-finalists will win the title of People’s Choice 2021! Simply select your favourite sustainable fashion designer based on their sketches and written statement, and hit ‘NEXT’.

Voting closes on 8 May 2021. The most voted-for designer will be announced along with the Redress Design Award 2021 finalists on 13 May 2021.

By voting, your name will be entered into a draw for a chance to win a copy of Redress’ ‘Dress [with] Sense: The Practical Guide to a Conscious Closet’, a stylish guide to environment-friendly ways of buying, wearing, caring for, and decluttering your wardrobe.

The Redress Design Award 2021’s Semi-finalists are:

●Federico Badini Confalonieri, United Kingdom
●Nawoda Bandara, Sri Lanka
●Saskia Baur-Schmid, Australia
●Jessica Chang, Taiwan
●Ruwanthi Gajadeera, Sri Lanka
●Saraansh Gupta, India
●Purnima Jain, India
●Jin Pei-Wen, Taiwan
●Paula Keilholz, Germany
●Isabella Li Kostrzewa, United States of America
●Psy Lau, Hong Kong
●Jasmine Leung, Hong Kong
●Liu Jing, Hong Kong
●Liu Feng, Mainland China
●Ffion Martin, United Kingdom
●Andra Nistor, United Kingdom
●Tulika Ranjan, India
●Sofia Sanchez, United Kingdom
●Lucy Saunders, United Kingdom
●Lili Sipeki, United Kingdom
●Friederike Snelting, Germany
●Berivan Tomay, United Kingdom
●Sabine Viksne, Latvia
●Kristina Vyzaite, United Kingdom
●Wei Jia , Mainland China
●Felipe Wu, United Kingdom
●Xia Mingwei, Mainland China
●Xu YiDan, Mainland China
●Taofeeq Yahaya, Nigeria
●Sheeky Yue, Mainland China

www.redressdesignaward.com/2021/semi-finalists

One Hundred Thousand Trees and a Forest of Thread

image by Eveline van Egdom

‘Honderdduizend bomen en een bos van draad’
("One Hundred Thousand Trees and a Forest of Thread")

Museum Panorama Mesdag exists for 140 years and the anniversary year starts with a special premiere: the artwork ‘Honderdduizend bomen en een bos van draad’ by textile artist Sara Vrugt is exhibited for the first time in Museum Panorama Mesdag.
For a whole year, Sara Vrugt worked with more than a thousand volunteers on a forest of one hundred square meters. The project arose from her concerns about the climate change. With an embroidered forest Sara wants to let people participate in the creative process and let them look at nature with different eyes. The black, semi-transparent cloth is hung in a spiral shape. That way you can walk along the colorful trees that are depicted in millions of stitches on the canvas, to end up in the middle.

The work of art will make a journey, the starting point is Museum Panorama Mesdag and the final destination is the garden of Museum Belvédère in Heerenveen in 2023. The work will be exhibited outside there to decay slowly. The seam of the artwork contains seeds that come from the indigenous seed bank of Staatsbosbeheer, so the canvas will turn into a real spiral forest and eventually return to nature.


The forest is shown in all its stages: young shoots, mature trees and dying stumps. The canvas is hung in a spiral form - Vrugt's variation on the panorama form - in which the visitor can wander. Scents and sounds will evoke memories. All senses are addressed. In contrast to the painted illusion of Mesdag's Panorama of Scheveningen - the painting that should not resemble a painting - Vrugt's panorama focuses on the tactility of the material and the visible handwork.

The forest is made of perishable material and seeds from the native seed bank of Staatsbosbeheer are added in the seam. As soon as the artwork reaches its final place in the garden of Museum Belvédère in 2023, the canvas will decay and the seeds will germinate in a new forest. The idea for this forest stems from the concerns that Vrugt has about the changes in the climate and nature. As an individual she feels powerless, but instead of observing passively, she has opted for a positive approach. 

100.000 bomen © Sara Vrugt – image Rogier Chang

Sara Vrugt, ‘Honderdduizend bomen en een bos van draad’, is on show until July 25, Museum Panorama Mesdag. More Information: www.panorama-mesdag.nl 

Documentary:
 

www.honderdduizendbomen.nl

100.000 bomen © Sara Vrugt – image Rogier Chang

100.000 bomen © Sara Vrugt – image Rogier Chang

Fixing Fashion: The future of fashion the Earth needs

Fixing Fashion is a new global platform aiming to teach and share knowledge to users for free about the best and most efficient ways to care, repair and upgrade their clothing and to create a strong community of clothing wearers that prolong the use of their clothes.

One Army (Precious Plastic, Phonebloks, Project Kamp) has created a platform made to normalise the act of properly caring and repairing clothing. All knowledge is online for free within an easy to follow Academy which allows people to teach and empower themselves to make their clothes last longer.

The fashion industry creates a copious amount of waste and, with the rise of fast fashion brands (H&M, Zara, Uniqlo), it seems to be getting larger and larger. According to the BBC, the average American throws away 37kg of clothing a year. An extremely high number that shocks most when heard. By 2050, we are estimated to be discarding more than 134 million tonnes of textiles a year (Ellen Macarthur Foundation).

The overall waste is shocking. We know our current model needs to change. Most of the garments produced now will never be worn or only a few times. There is more clothing now in landfills than what we actually wear. Many sustainable fashion efforts focus on the origin of garments. They promote solutions to be purchased, but this still has left a gap in methods for the conscious use and end of clothing ownership. Only knowing about these issues won't solve the problem. We must cooperate, act and change the way we see clothes for the precious objects they are. 

By approaching the consumer and giving them the tools for free to repair and care for their clothes we can exclude the clothing waste stream. With a repair or swap business model, discussed under the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020, WRAP determined that if 5-10% of clothing sales are via these models to extend their active life, the savings could be 30 - 50 million cubic metres of water and 80,000 - 160,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. These methods extended the average garment’s life from 3.3 years to 4.5 years. If this amount is brought to the current American waste stream 1.22 million tonnes of textile waste could be saved yearly. 

Fixing Fashion has researched for over two years, including interventions, interviews, workshops and field trips through Kantamanto in Accra, Ghana with the OR Foundation and several donations and sorting centres through Europe. Learning from the community the best practices and methods to recycle and repair discarded clothing. Then applying this research into easy to understand techniques and videos.

With this knowledge and platform, Fixing Fashion aims to empower people to create a global network of existing and new repairers and upgraders. Fixing Fashion will provide tools so people can freely exchange knowledge and learn as the community grows, giving repairers a platform to start a business, so more repairing and second-hand clothing trading occurs more often.

In this first version, Fixing Fashion aims to have people learn the basic techniques of sewing, caring, repairing and upgrading and wear their fixes proudly. To take ownership of their clothes and show the world that they did not want to add to the oversaturated waste stream. This way of seeing clothes diminishes the need for new production and denies the existence of waste. We have all that we need around us, we just have to use it.

 

 

About One Army:

One Army (previously Dave Hakkens) is an NGO starting and developing sustainable projects to help better the environment. Whether tackling technological waste through Phonebloks or local open-source plastic recycling with Precious Plastic or prototyping an alternative way of living via Project Kamp, One Army consistently tries to find workable open-source solutions to some of the world’s most dire environmental problems. Fixing Fashion is the latest project by One Army aiming to tackle the ever-growing waste of the fashion industry.

https://fixing.fashion

Instagram: fixingfashion.community
#fixingfashion

Je Suis Responsable - fashion film

Je Suis Responsable | Fashion Film for À forma

“I forget that I’m responsible. But I am.”

Je Suis Responsable offers to the viewer a poetic, poignant experience while posing questions over humanity and existence. It’s the latest fashion film by award winning director Enrico Poli for the emerging brand, À forma. It was produced by Manufactory Productions and shot in several locations around Bologna, a town in northern Italy.

Je Suis Responsable (French for “I am responsible”) stands first and foremost for the designers’ statement to produce responsibly. However, the film takes its title from a monologue it quotes and homages. In Godard’s Vivre sa Vie, Anna Karina’s character tells a friend how she feels that “we are responsible for everything we do”. What does it actually mean to say that we are responsible?

The locations where the film is set constantly remind us of the power of nature; that given enough time, nature finds its way through what humans have neglected. It’s key to the central message of the film: artifice is immaterial, things fade, they lose their form and function. Humans are impermanent, only nature continues. It’s the biggest strength we know. Nature is time’s most wonderful and consistent expression.

“What moved us into action was the urgency to translate the global derealisation brought about by the pandemic into a form of art. Coronavirus has shown us how fragile we are and how easily things can fall apart: I can’t help but feel this is a wake up call. As we continue to live through this crisis with an awareness of our own fragility and as scientists warn us of the irrevocable damage Global Warming will have on society, preserving life on this planet has become the defining challenge of our time. It may already be too late to reverse this course, but I firmly believe the least we can do is try.” - Enrico Poli

 

The film is Enrico Poli’s latest collaboration with designer Antonio, after working successfully on two films for his previous brand MONO-Y and Not(e) for a Dreamer.

“Antonio and I have always thought very highly of each other, and have developed an attitude toward working together based on trust and creative freedom. Back in November 2020 Antonio and Daniele had just started producing the first collection of their new brand, À forma. I was prepping a music video at the time and I asked them to invest some money so that I could hold on to the camera and the lenses for one additional day. They accepted and we went on to shoot Je Suis Responsable. I remember Antonio and Daniele laughing at me when I told them that I was writing a script; I hadn’t seen a single piece of clothing, and there hadn’t been much discussion over what the film was supposed to communicate, yet. All I knew was that À forma had made sustainability its core value.”  Enrico Poli

 

À forma bases its designs on contrasts. Combining opposites represents the lifestyle of the designers. They believe in the adaptability of form. They structure their work up to the smallest detail, with the aim of seeing the unexpected emerge. They put absolute attention in the selection of the fabrics of their garments, then play with accessories to create breaking points. The film mirrors this approach with its narrative, cinematography, and soundtrack. Finding the breaking point of an image becomes a way to further expand its reality.

 

 To achieve the atmospheric suspense of this film Enrico worked extensively with composer Paolo Gaudio. The soundtrack gives the rhythm to the piece, creating moments of tension, and alternating them with silence to finally resolve into poetic, uplifting notes for the epilogue.

 

The director had the chance to work with Daniel De Vue @A52 for the color grade. Daniel decided to support the project after Enrico showed him an early cut.

Watch the film here:

Je Suis Responsable from Enrico Poli on Vimeo.

Doing Fashion Graduation 2021

Elvira Grau

Although we all live in challengiong times, in particular it can be hard being a student. Despite, there are plently of beautiful examples of reselience of creativity. Doing Fashion Graduation is one that I always look forward to see online, as I haven never had the chance to attend a show. However, this time the video presentation was a perfect way to experience the work of the graduates. 

Filmed at the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, the Institute of Fashion Design Basel 2021 graduates video invites an exploration of what is to come in fashion, an inspiring projection of creativity during such uninspiring times. 

 

Check out the video, and some images from students' collections below.  

 https://doingfashion.ch/

 Images courtesy of Institute of Fashion Design

Human Poetics | Polimoda Fashion Movie

Serena Schettino's collection photographed at Galleria Romanelli during the making of Human Poetics

During Milano Fashion Week Women's Collection and for the first time ever, Polimoda presented a short movie featuring 20 collections by Undergraduate in Fashion Design students. Shot in unconvential Florentine locations, the garments created by our young designers are breathing life into a city ready for a brand new Renaissance.  

Polimoda's Human Poetics is a fusion of art, nature and architecture, transporting viewers back to the heart of human creativity and delving into the shapes and lines of a temporarily crestfallen Florence.  

 "This Fashion Movie is about images that blend and overlap, expressing the fears, aspirations, emotions and visions of a brilliant generation of young designers grappling with the aesthetics of a new decade at a fast pace," explains Director Massimiliano Giornetti. "It is a dialogue between heritage, present, future, technology and craftsmanship, binding it all together in un unprecedented metissage and giving life to a unique project that is human-centric and innovative." 

Polimoda shared this experience with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, uniting people from all over the world with the sensations only fashion is able to convey. 

https://www.polimoda.com/human-poetics-fashion-movie/

Alice Baggio's collection at the Sferisterio

 

Marlou Breuls Creative Studio - Objectification of the body

Marlou Breuls Creative Studio presented interim process results from the ongoing research project

‘Objectification of the body’ during the digital edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival. This was a performative presentation of the process and working aesthetic from the studio. This transparent working method is something that makes the current generation of designers significant in the changes the fashion industry is facing.

Marlou Breuls is a multidisciplinary fashion designer who started her own creative studio in Amsterdam in 2016. She prefers to describe herself as a visual artist rather than a traditional fashion designer. Within her studio she sees the human body as a foundation on which ideas come to life. This results in a sculptural approach in which unconventional use of materials and constructions come together. The will to innovate is always decisive. The studio's handwriting shows avant-garde use of form, craftsmanship, an eye for detail and exaggerated silhouettes. Textiles are one of the means by which they form ideas and fascinations, as sculptors do with stone and clay.

In ‘Objectification of the body’, fashion-related sculptures move in a space where time, textiles and the human body are unnaturally merged, exchanged or duplicated. You walk into a ceremony or ritual, full of human objects that feel like they are transforming. The work plays with the tension between alienation and abjection and is at the same time tactile inviting. The work serves as a guide through a world where the boundaries between fashion, sculpture and the body are completely alienated. A world where there is a tear in the thin tissue that blurs imagination and reality, so that elements of both worlds can merge.

You can follow work Marlou Breuls Creative Studio and proces also on Instagram.

Website

All images by Branko Popovic.