Craig Green Windmills - AW18 Campaign

Craig Green AW18 Campaign
Photography Dan Tobin Smith
Styling Robbie Spencer

Following the flaming sculptures of Spring/Summer 2018, British designer Craig Green has unveiled the campaign images for his Fall/Winter 2018 collection.
This season’s campaign features 13 meters high 'windmill' constructions erected on a cliff’s edge. Windmills as a poetic metaphor of the past that meets the future, instruments of yesterday that thanks to wind energy have become tomorrow.

“I have always thought that windmills are interesting – something that existed in the past as a vital industrial machine powered by nature, a kind of very early use of sustainable energy-powered production,” Craig Green.

Craig Green for Moncler Genius SS 2019

The Craig Green Spring/Summer 2019 collaboration with Moncler was presented during Milan Fashion Week.

Viktor & Rolf - Kunsthal Rotterdam

For the past 25 years the collaboration between Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren has led to extraordinary fashion creations of timeless beauty. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Viktor&Rolf, the Kunsthal organizes a large exhibition in collaboration with the Dutch designers and Canadian curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot.

The exhibition ‘Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years’ shows Viktor&Rolf’s radical conception of ‘wearable art’ and explores the elements that make their designs unique in the contemporary fashion world.
Throughout their illustrious career, they have carved a contradictory identity that pushes the boundaries between art and fashion, often contrasting romance and rebellion, exuberance and control, classicism and conceptualism. Around sixty works from Viktor&Rolf’s haute couture collections give an insight into their unconventional and conceptual approach, also showing that they have never shied away from criticising the fashion industry (of which they are a part themselves). With regard to form and materials – the interplay of lines, volumes, bows, collars, ruffles etcetera – their creations are stunningly beautiful and technically perfect.

The exhibition is open from May 27 until September 30.
More information here: kunsthal.nl

Picture report: brankopopovicblog

A matter of taste

Comme des Garçons Fall Winter 2018

For the fall winter 2018, Rei Kawakubo was inspired by the idea of “camp”, referring to the aesthetic sensibility that lies inbetween bad taste and irony. The question is what is good taste?
How far does something have to go before it’s perceived as camp? 
What was once considered to be in good taste - bouffants, blue hair, circle skirts and marabou-adorned mules — now is considered as camp. And what once was read as camp such as sneakers with your suit is now seen as fashionable.

This is a wonderful example how fashion can question perception, aesthetics and taste. More and more the context seems to matter; when is fashion considerd in fashion rather than what is fashion.

Diane Vreeland would say:
“A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste—it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.” 

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes

A Queen Within Gucci Viktor and Rolf photo Josh Brasted courtesy of MUSEEA

NOMA's first fashion exhibition showcasing rare pieces from one of the world’s largest private collections of Alexander McQueen fashion, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents A Queen Within - Adorned Archetypes, on view from February 21 through May 28, 2018.

A Queen Within – Adorned Archetypes is an exhibition developed by Barrett Barrera Projects and MUSEEA.

More: info

A Queen Within Iris van Herpen photo Josh Brasted courtesy of MUSEEA

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes

Serena Gili, Discipline Collection 2012, Photo Saga Sig

NOMA’s First Fashion Exhibition Examines Archetypes of Womanhood

Showcasing rare pieces from one of the world’s largest private collections of Alexander McQueen fashion, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents A Queen Within - Adorned Archetypes, on view from February 21 through May 28, 2018.
NOMA’s first major fashion exhibition will feature contemporary designers showcased in an immersive gallery presentation. This exhibition’s bold couture explores different archetypes of femininity, and how these mythic characters manifest through storytelling in fashion over the past decade.
Designer Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) was a master of building narratives through his collections and runway shows. Inspired by his sensitivity to historical and literary research, A Queen Within uses fashion to explore seven archetypal personality types of a Queen, or metaphorically, of a woman: The Mother Earth, Sage, Magician, Enchantress, Explorer, Heroine and Thespian. These themes are derived from recurring motifs in myths and fairy tales of world literature. The story of each feminine archetype—its powers, its weaknesses, its significance—is articulated in A Queen Within through pioneering fashion, photography, and artwork.

Maiko Takeda, Atmospheric Reentry, 2013 Photo Yuen Hsieh

“The designers featured in A Queen Within showcase the competing, complimentary and often contradictory roles within the ideals of contemporary womanhood,” said Susan Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA. “The exhibition explores the complicated symbolism used by avant-garde designers while bringing a major fashion exhibition to New Orleans. This exhibition definitively demonstrates that fashion is art.”

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes features more than 100 experimental gowns, headpieces, jewelry, and shoes by more than 50 of the world's most insightful contemporary designers, artists and photographers. The exhibition includes household names like McQueen, Prada, Chanel and Comme des Garçons intermixed with other boundary-pushing fashion, like Chromat's body-positive architectural looks, Rich Mnisi’s experimental videos and Iris van Herpen's dresses that boldly use new technology.

“This exhibition shows beauty, certainly, but also pain, humor, power, and weakness,” said Mel Buchanan, NOMA's RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts & Design. “A Queen Within references the past and foretells the future, exploring how fashion can be about the complex human condition."

Minna Palmqvist

A Queen Within shows fashion’s possibility as an art form, full of glamour, wit and escapism but also innovation and pressing social issues. "A Vivienne Westwood coat is from a collection that called for people to unite in an effort to save Venice, and the rest of our planet, from the effects of climate change. Minna Palmqvist’s mannequin busts capture the beauty of nonconforming bodies, showing how fashion's pioneers are moving away from the standard size zero dress form. Gypsy Sport’s gender-fluid work is seen as the voice for a new generation that calls for a more global, inclusive world. The exhibition also highlights photographers and artists such as June Canedo, Raúl de Nieves and Joanne Petit-Frére, who use the adorned body to depict stories from communities around the world and place them in a global historical context,” said exhibition curators Sofia Hedman and Serge Martynov of MUSEEA. 

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes is an exhibition developed by Barrett Barrera Projects and MUSEEA, toured internationally by Flying Fish. Presentation of this exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art is sponsored by the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation. Additional support provided by Ashley Longshore, Joseph: A Women's Fashion Boutique, and Millie Davis Kohn.

Comme des Garçons, SS 2015,
Courtesy of Barrett Barrera Projects & RKL Consulting
Photo Sarah Carmody

Exhibited Designers, Artists and Photographers
69, Adidas, Alexander McQueen, Anrealage/Kunihiko Morinaga, Arvida Byström & Maja Malou Lyse, Ashish, Bea Szenfeld, Bourgeois Boheme, Carcel, Chan Luu, Charlie le Mindu, Chromat, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao & Jimmy Day, Comme des Garçons, Cooper & Gorfer, Cutecircuit, Daan Roosegaarde, David Lachapelle, Diana Scherer, Fantich & Young, Gianfranco Ferré, Gucci, Gypsy Sport, Hassan Hajjaj, Herdentier, Hideki Seo, Iris van Herpen, Jalila Essaïdi, Joanne Petit-Frère, Jordan Askill, June Canedo, Keta Gutmane, Louise Linderoth, Maison Martin Margiela, courtesy of Maison Margiela, Maja Gunn, Maiko Takeda, Maïmouna Guerresi, Michael Drummond, Minna Palmqvist, MuSkin, Omar Victor Diop, Pam Hogg, Prada, Raúl De Nieves, Reformation, Rich Mnisi, Sandra Backlund, Serena Gili, Slow Factory, Tabitha Osler, this is Sweden, Tommy Hilfiger, Viktor&Rolf and Vivienne Westwood.

Special commissioned headdresses by Charlie le Mindu.

About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture
Garden The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 5,000 years of world art.
Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum's 46 galleries

www.noma.org

Gucci SS 2018 campaign

Ignasi Monreal created a Utupian Fantasy artworks for Gucci’s S/S 2018 Campaign

The advertising campaign “Utopian Fantasy” features surreal digital images inspired by eras of Renaissance to Surrealism and paying tribute to three elements of Earth, Sea and Sky. The campaign images will be officially released in January 2018. 

www.ignasimonreal.com

Comme des Garçons Spring Summer 2018

Rei Kawakubo showed the beauty of the art of fashion with a collection “Multidimensional Graffiti”.
Kawakubo appropriated the work of 10 artists dating from the 16th century to today, from Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s masterfully wacky Bacchus-like portrait created from fruits and vegetables to works from e-Boy, a pixel art group established in 1997, and illustrator Stefan Marx.

Björk - The Gate

Gucci designed the striking dress that Björk is wearing in The Gate video. It took 870 hours to make this peace of art.
The design by Alessandro Michele took approximately 550 hours to make, and an additional 320 hours for the embroidery. The dress’s fabrics include 5 meters of pleated iridescent PVC plastic material, 3 meters of PVC iridescent strips and 20 meters of pleated lurex organza. Alessandro Michele also collaborated as the film’s creative director.

Take a look at just few behind the scenes close-up.

FASHION VS. ART

Marlou Breuls

FASHION VS. ART 

4 March –  6 August2017
Location: SCHUNCK* Glaspaleis, Shop Window (Bongerd 18, Heerlen)

FASHION VS. ART exhibition at SCHUNCK* in Heerlen is curated by FASHIONCLASH and organized in collaboration with SCHUNCK*, this multidisciplinary exhibition questions the relationship between fashion and art.

The multidisciplinary FASHION VS. ART exhibition displays a selection of work by fashion designers who in their own practice question and challenge the boundaries of fashion as a form of art. With their playful and innovative approach to fashion they stimulate our imaginary world and question our perception. They make you ask yourself: Is it art or is it fashion? 

“For me fashion and art are inseparable. All artists try to capture memories and emotions. Fashion or art unfolds itself when people can relate to it” – Marlou Breuls 

Art is not only paint and canvas. It has no rules. It is something that can be made with anything and in any way. As broad as the concept of fashion is, it can also encompass ‘art’. The status of fashion within the world of art is a constant topic of disputes. Some legendary designers identify themselves as artists. One of them is Elsa Schiaparelli who declared in her biography that she considers fashion design “not as a profession but as an art”. On the other hand, prominent designers such as Martin Margiela, Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs disagree with that statement. 

Within the academic sphere and the world of young designers there are many examples of cross-overs with art and autonomous approaches to fashion as a form of art. 

“If you ask me if fashion is art, then I would answer ‘YES’. I believe that everything in this life is art. Art is in fact energy, its hanging somewhere in the air and sometimes you can pick it up, sometimes not” - Jade van der Mark

“Despite the similarities between the two, fashion is not art in my opinion. The most important difference for me is that fashion always starts from the body. 'Body related art' creates usually more towards the body, instead of using the body as a beginning always. Another really important difference is the approach of timelessness in art, both as an artist while creating and as a spectator while experiencing the artwork.” - Vere van Hal

“When people recognize my inspiration without prior explanations I have reached my ultimate goal. This collection blurs the traditional lines of canvas, sculpture, and model. My models' faces are often covered by a masked garment or painted to blend into the work” – Marlou Breuls

Anouk van Klaveren

“My designs are based on my paintings. The paintings and the fashion go hand in hand. I get inspired by the way of thinking and moving of our society, I want to translate this into my textiles and paintings” – Jade van der Mark 

 “A body as a whole in relation to another body is a basic assumption for me. A body not as a person, not as an identity, but as a volume. During the exhibition Fashion vs. Art I challenge the visitor to experience a garment from a new perspective. The garment becomes an object on its own in which it doesn't have to adapt to the body anymore. I would like to invite the visitor to create new relations with the garment.”- Vere van Hal

--> Participants Part1 (4 March - 21 May): Aina Seerden, Vandaag de Toekomst, By vanharten, Chris van den Elzen, Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, Elvira ’t Hart, Femke Agema, Statement made by Jade, Pot Luck Mieke Kockelkorn, Minou Lejeune, Pleun van Dijk (reborn), Sanna Schubert, Sidi El Karchi, Vera Gulikers.
Part 2 (25 May - 6 Augustus 2017): Antoine Peters, Anouk van Klaveren, Charlotte Van de Velde, ISIS ELSA FEE, Vandaag de Toekomst, Femke Agema, Statement made by Jade, Marie-Sophie Beinke, Lotte Milder, Marlou Breuls, STEVEN VANDERYT, Tiel Janssen Design, Vere van Hal

Exhibition opening times: Daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. SCHUNCK* Glaspaleis, Shop window. Taking place at the same time in SCHUNCK* will be exhibition of Paint it Soft (Museum -1) and the interactive installation, Emulate / (Ne) Plus Ultra State: the ‘Take-away’ Collection (mezzanine). All three exhibitions address the themes fashion, textiles and texture.

More information: 
schunck.nl/agenda/fashion-vs-art

Fashion Makes Sense LAB - FASHIONCLASH Festival 2017

Does Fashion Make Sense?

The Fashion Makes Sense LAB was especially designed and curated for this edition containing an exposition, designer market, performances, films, workshops and fashion talks. The LAB space and scenography is designed in cooperation with Studio Stad, who is also responsible for the design of the Forza Fashion House and all previous editions of FASHIONCLASH Festival since 2011.

In relationship to the central theme ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ a curated selection of work will be exposed. In the LAB one could explore the extraordinary installations and presentations of Pleun van Dijk, Floriane Misslin, Olle Lundin, M.A.F. van der Vloed, Jo Cope, Djeli, Sepideh Ahadi, Sensewear and Daan Couzijn. Furthermore there was a live sewing studio by slowFASHIONfast from Bosnia and Herzegovina, presentation and workshop from TextileLab Amsterdam and interactive performance by Mami Izumi, Iris Woutera and the dance performance by LAGOM by MIJ x Mila Halizova.
The designer market offered a unique experience where one can meet new designers and obtain one of a kind clothing, jewellery and accessories by LUDUS, LOV-S, Nous Avons, Soolista, Joelle Boers, JEN MM DSGN and many more.
Sunday 2 July was dedicated to dialogues and encounters; the Fashion Talks. Moderated by Saskia van Stein, artistic director at Bureau Europa, a stage was given to a several festival participants and professionals such as Carolyn Mair and Roosmarie Ruigrok (Clean&Unique) to engage in the discussion. Here the audience, designers and more debating about the festival’s theme: (Does) Fashion Makes Sense.

ANDRAHANDARICstudio

Vere van Hal

Atelier. by Lotte van Dijk

Atelier. by Lotte van Dijk at Amsterdam Fashion Week

One of the highlights this year at Amsterdam Fashion Week this summer was the collection by Atelier. , label by talented designer Lotte van Dijk. 

After completing her fashion master's programme at ArtEZ she got noticed by being one of the finalitsts at Hyères Festival 2017.
In her work she combines art and clothing and produces all of her designs herself. She works like an artist treating each garment as a piece of art. All of her garments are beautiful in their own way and like wearable pieces of art.

“By painting on fabric and draping with the result, you keep the strength of the illustration and immediately see the impact of the painting on the silhouette - the relationship is clear, as opposed to a two dimensional print, developed independently.” 


Find more about Atelier. http://atelier.today

All pictures are by brankopopovicblog

FASHION VS. ART exhibition

Alexandre de Vos for Clash project 2016, photo by Sem Shayne

4 March – 21 May & 25 May – 6 August2017 Location: SCHUNCK* Glaspaleis, Vitrine 

A multidisciplinary exhibition that questions the relationship between fashion and art. Curated by FASHIONCLASH and organized in collaboration with SCHUNCK*.

Fashion occupies a prominent position in our contemporary culture and is one of the largest industries in the world. But is it art?
The status of fashion within the art sphere is an everlasting subject of debate. There are legendary designers who identified themselves as artists such as Elsa Schiaparelli, who declared in her autobiography that she considers fashion design not as “a profession, but as an art.” Nowadays many prominent designers such as Martin Margiela, Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs reject this statement.

Within the academic sphere and the world of young designers there are many examples of cross-overs with art and autonomous approaches to fashion as a form of art. The multidisciplinary FASHION VS. ART exhibition displays a selection of work by fashion designers who in their own practice question and challenge the boundaries of fashion as a form of art. With their playful and innovative approach to fashion they stimulate our imaginary world and question our perception. Ask yourself: Is it art or is it fashion?

The ‘clash’ in FASHIONCLASH represents the encounter between cultures, artistic disciplines, audience and fashion. FASHIONCLASH believes that the art of fashion can stimulate critical debate about the role of fashion within our society and the world of art.
FASHIONCLASH presents the art of fashion not only by scouting outspoken avant-garde designers and providing a platform for upcoming talent, but also by organizing cross-over projects such as the CLASH project. Since the first edition in 2009 the CLASH Project challenges every year ten artists and designers from different artistic disciplines (all non-fashion) to transform their practice, both materially and conceptually, into a ‘wearable’ fashion outfit, that can be presented on the catwalk during FASHIONCLASH Festival. The perfect opportunity for creative minds to step out of their comfort zone, to play and experiment!

More information: http://schunck.nl/agenda/fashion-vs-art/

Statement made by Jade

Opening:
Saturday 1 April 2017, from 5 p.m. onwards
Taking place at the same time will be the opening of Paint it Soft and Not So Soft; Bernardinuscollege final-year art exhibition (1 to 30 April 2017); and the interactive installation, Emulate / (Ne) Plus Ultra State: the ‘Take-away’ Collection (mezzanine)

Exhibition opening times:
Tuesdays to Sundays from 9 a.m. to 23 p.m. SCHUNCK* Glaspaleis, Shop window. The presentation will undergo a changeover halfway through the exhibition period.

Designers/artists
Part 1 (4 March – 21 May)
Aina Seerden, Vandaag de Toekomst, By vanharten, Chris van den Elzen, Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, Elvira ’t Hart, Femke Agema, Statement made by Jade, Pot Luck, Mieke Kockelkorn, Minou Lejeune, Pleun van Dijk (reborn), Sanna Schubert, Sidi El Karchi, Vera Gulikers


Part 2 (25 May – 6 August 2017)
Vandaag de Toekomst, Antoine Peters, Charlotte Van de Velde, Femke Agema, ISIS ELSA FEE, Statement made by Jade, Marie-Sophie Beinke, Marlou Breuls, STEVEN VANDERYT, Tiel Janssen Design, Vere van Hal

Vere van Hal, photo Team Peter Stigter

CLASH Project 2015

Charlotte Van de Velde – jewellery + objects

7th editon of the CLASH Project during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015. 

CLASH PROJECT, Fashion By Non-Fashion Designer Evert since 2009 Clash project has been one of the highlights of FASHIONCLASH Festival. The project marks the core concept of FASHIONCLASH – ‘connecting talent, disciplines, visions and cultures through fashion’. Each year ten non-fashion designers are invited to express their visions and ideas about ‘fashion’ through fashion outfit. The outcome is always refreshing, captivating and trendsetting.

More information and overview of Clash project archive: http://clashproject.tumblr.com

2015 Participants

Mio Fujimaki – jewellery and objects
Anne Büscher – jewellery, objects
Charlotte Van de Velde – jewellery, objects
Stephan Auberg – design
Roos Gomperts – design, ceramics
Jan Pieter Kaptein – design
Nathalie Van der Massen – graphic, textile design
Alexandra Karpilovski – fine art
Juan Pablo Plazas Saenz– installation & performance
Vera Gulikers – fine art

Clash project 2015 is curated by Matylda Krzykowski and Charlotte Van de Velde

Editorial images: Sem Shayne
Catwalk + backstage images: Team Peter Stigter

Kim Shui

When fashion meets art

The collection explores abstraction of the body to re-contextualize feminine form. As Ellsworth Kelly said “I think that if you can turn off the mind and look only with the eyes, ultimately everything becomes abstract.” By bringing everything back to the most basic and pure form, the body is removed from metaphor and association. It is human form without weight, freedom of space and perspective – “Zero of form”.
 Inspired by Malevich paintings and sketches where the human form is distorted, the garments recreated these forms through outlining. There are areas of space and empty space, convexity and concavity so as to confuse the viewer to the expected relative locations of form and space. Via “holing” and flatness, there are different perspectives from all angles of the body. In some of Malevich’s work, the background or landscape and the human figure are treated in much the same way, and there is a certain geometric rhythm and repetition of forms. These linear geometries were explained through a contrast of form and anti form via the garments through falling pleats. Plywood, chosen for its “blankness”, for its lack of artistic connotations and meaning in art history was bent and molded in order to hold fabric into new shapes. Linens, Animal hide and leathers were used to emphasize the rawness, the deliberate connection to the earth.
In essence, the female body is stripped away from metaphor – deviating from cultural ideals the garments react against accepted forms and proportions.

tekst & images: http://www.kimshui.net/

Sandor Lakatos Menswear FW 15/16

Hungarian menswear designer Sandor Lakatos released a preview of 8 images from his upcoming campaign for the Fall Winter 2015/16 season. Sandor doesn’t seem to lack new, powerful ideas, and the collection is “taking applied geometry to the next level.” From the preview it is clear, that the designer’s aim was to reinvent his favorite patterns adding extra dimensions.
“Designing clothes is my art” – says Lakatos in a recent interview. The designer is infamous for his intolerance of fast fashion and poor quality, and it is safe to say that his new collection reflects this principle. Sandor added new prints and new fabrics (staying true to his signature minimalism and meticulously created detail work), and he focused on creating more variations of each classic item, resulting in a collection bigger than ever, with about 90-100 items to pick from. The starting point remains classic menswear: suits and suit separates, with new, three dimensional elements, ranging from minimalistic to haute couture lines.
The designer added some drop crotch suit pants to match the jackets, and some ‘street’ looks we have never seen from Sandor Lakatos Menswear: hoodies, sweatshirts and jumpsuits, for those who prefer comfortable streetwear to formal. There are also some heavy coats, lots of new jackets, hoodies, slacks, and some extremely cool pants and accessories.
As usually, Lakatos picked an artist friend of his to model the campaign: Andras M. Kecskes, an expressive dancer and pantomime artist. With his ‘weirdo’ look and breathtaking poses, he is the best person to embody the strict geometry of the new collection, as well as the cool, loose lines of Sandor’s new pieces.


www.sandorlakatos.com

Photography: Tamas Dobos
Model: András M. Kecskés
Make-up: Eszter Galambos
Styling and clothes: Sandor Lakatos

The Future of Fashion is Now

Rejina Pyo

#MustSee - The Future of Fashion is Now at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - open until January 18, 2015.

Throughout the year fashion exhibitions dominated Dutch museums but 'The Future of Fashion is Now' (TFOFIN) at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen is perhaps the most interesting. With its innovative content and extensive public programme with symposia, workshops and events, TFOFIN takes the viewer to a higher ground of dynamic world of the fashion design.
THOFIN offers a broader view on the future of fashion with work of visionary designers including Viktor & Rolf, Hussein Chalayan and Iris van Herpen. Furthermore the exhibition is a platform for new generation of designers that are questioning the fashion system with their groundbreaking and innovative approach to fashion design. Among the new designers one can find work of Rejina Pyo, Craig Green, Ana Rajcevic, Jef Monets and Jennifer Gadient.
These designers are coming up with innovative solutions at the cutting edge of fashion and art. Sustainability, futuristic technologies and the social value of clothes are themes with which these designers address the fashion of the future.

Six fashion designers made new work exclusively for the exhibition, enabled by the Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge Award. The working process of these commissions is on view on the new online platform www.futureoffashion.nl.

The Future of Fashion is Now is staged based on four topics; Materiality and Experience, New Values and New Stories, Fashion Activism: Community and Politics.

Olek

Materiality and Experience, showcasing the current generation of designers who focus on the tactile values of their creations such as the craftsmanship, contextual use of materials and new technologies. The use of various techniques and technologies enables them to add an emotional experience to the wearer of their products.
Great pioneer in this context is Martin Margiela who deconstructed clothing in all possible ways to redefine them again to create new shapes.
Artist Olek (Agata Oleksiak) uses crochet to cover objects and people and with her installations she questions our everyday reality and suggests an alternative reality.
One of the striking features is the work of Rejina Pyo. Her project 'Structural Mode' shows sculptural dresses with geometric forms and a bright colour palette made from materials such as perspex and metal. The collection explores the boundaries between art and wearable fashion. Rejina Pyo makes sculpural art inspired by clothing rather than fashion inspired by art.

Here we also see work of Wang Lei who does not work with traditional fabrics, but instead he creates garments with paper. For this installation he used toilet paper, which he first moistened and rolled into twine and then created knitted garments.

Comme des Garçons

The (Re)definition of the Human Figure part is staged in red lighted space and focusses on designers and artists who explore relationship between the human body and clothing within our society, culture and media. In this part there is work of Rei Kawakubo who questions the concept of fashion and Western ideals of beauty and femininity. Her 'Lumps & Bumps' collection for Comme des Garçons is a milestone in the history of fashion. With this collection Kawakubo questioned whether the feminine curves in the appropriate places are necessary ingredient for beauty.
Si Chan reflected to his student years, where he felt very isolated among competitive fellow students. He created a collection 'Hug Me' to point out that a simple hug can break through the loneliness.
With her sculptured pieces Ana Rajcevic creates hybrid of man and animal. In addition she also plays with the distinction between sculptures and accessories that are worn on the body.
Furthermore there is work by emerging fashion talent Craig Green, who elaborates upon his AW menswear collection inspired by Persian carpets, workwear and romantic elements. "All pieces within the installation are individually hand painted, so each piece of clothing is a one of a kind textile. The process was a look back to how textiles used to be produced in a reaction to how digitised and easily reproducible textiles and prints have become in recent years". 

Viktor & Rolf

New Values and New Stories, is a exploration of identity, storytelling and critical and conceptual approach to fashion. In this section of the exhibition there are performance installations of Viktor & Rolf. Their performance 'Zen Garden' is a summary of twenty years of Viktor & Rolf where they criticize the speed of the fashion system.
Portuguese Lara Torres questions the function of clothing and identity, transience and memory.  For the project 'An Impossible Wardrobe for the Invisible' she made temporary clothing where the fabrics eventually dissolve in water. When the fabrics have dissolved, only a memory of the clothing remains. Nuages Gris (Dorith Sjardijn and Jeroen Teunissen) offer a new interpretation of an idea of designer Helmut Lang who considered certain components of garments essential to his style, namely 'accessoires vêtements'. Nuages Gris makes exact replicas of Lang's signature pieces but adding 'smart textile'; data about the wearer's movement and moods is collected and transmitted into an app. These 'accessoires vêtements' therefore tell us something about the 'signature and style' of the wearer instead of the designer.

Digest Design Workshop

Fashion Activism: Community and Politics displays the strengths of fashion design to connect communities and the general power of art of social innovation. Lucy and Jorge Orta believe that art can be a catalyst for social change. In their installation 'Habitent' that dates back to 1992 they created a piece of clothing and at the same time installation that comments on the appalling situation faced by refugees. In 'Wanderer' they chart the nomadic life of the Romani people, who have roamed throughout Europe, forced to move on by nationalistic ideas conflicts that dictate that they do not belong.
'Our Home: Nohting is impossible for Faithful Heart, Faith Moves Mountains', a tent installation by Digest Design Workshop is a investigation and study of the Chinese calico technique. Designer Dooling Jiang has stencilled a bird and floral motifs in reverse and used the resulting textile in various ways in her ready-to-wear collection 'Digest BLUE ground S/S 2014.
The tent is constructed from Chinese fabrics made from natural fibre, using traditional weaving and dying techniques. With this installation desinger hopes to awaken our primary instinct for refuge and protection; the desire for a safe home.
'Experience of Health' is a project by Lucia Cuba that explores notions of health and its absence through garments, addressing the hardships and opportunities that the experience of health can bring forth. With 'Experience of Health' Cuba shows that we can use fashion to interpret and transform our social reality. The garments bear the stories of people's battles with cancer and are actually materialised experiences. She attempts to provide an insight into how people experience sickness and health.

Lucy and Jorge Orta

The Future of Fashion is Now exhibition is on display from 11 October 2014 to 18 January 2015 at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam, the Netherlands).

http://www.boijmans.nl/en

More images and impressions of The Future of Fashion is Now
All images are by brankopopovicblog

White Perspectives at Somerset House

White Perspectives 
- part of fashioning winter at Someset House

White is the colour of winter. Almost ever-present, relentless and beautiful – in the fog, the frost, the ice and snow. Although the radiance of white is highly coveted, historically white clothing has been less-commonly seen during this dramatic season. !

The history of white is complex and in the context of Western fashion history, colours have been used in both rituals and to mark distinctions. This exhibition considers a handfull of views on how new materials, technologies and ideologies have contributed to changing the meaning and function of the colour white over time. It looks into the history of white plastic, white ink, white cotton, white pearls white lace, white teeth, white hair, white silk, white paint and white paper. !

Bea Szenfeld

The installation design is inspired by the collaborative relationship between Josiah Wedgwood and Sir William Chambers, the architect who designed Somerset House in the 18th century and features white silhuettes by Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Martin Margiela, Gareth Pugh, Kokon To Zai, Bea Szenfeld, Ann-Sofie Back, Iris van Herpen, Fantich & Young, Mao Usami and Charlie Le Mindu.




























Curation and Exhibition Design: Sofia Hedman & Serge Martynov
Special thank to Assistant Curator Johan Deurell and Fashion historian Hanne Eide

Clash Project at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2014

As the name already suggests, FASHIONCLASH stands for a clash with fashion. Based on this concept, the Clash project is established in 2009. Within this project artists and creatives but all non-fashion designers are invited to express their vision on fashion in an outfit that can be worn by a model and showed on the runway.

CLASH Project #6 participants

1 Benten Clay - artist duo (Germany)

2 Dennis Vanderbroeck – artist (Netherlands)

3 Gabriel Guevara – jewellery designer (Netherlands)

4 Minou Lejeune – designer (Netherlands)

5 Marie Claire Krell – artist (Germany)

6 Ola Mirecka – designer (Poland)

7 Raoul Zoellner & Viola– artist (Germany)

8 Sanne Vaassen – artist (Netherlands)

9 Shana Teugels – jewellery designer (Belgium)

10 Titia Dane & Ionie Chamilaki – designer (Netherlands)

Clash project is curated by Matylda Krzykowski

 http://clashproject.tumblr.com

Exhibition at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2014

Stefanie Barz

What if we could preserve a certain age, how old would you be? The art of fashion can provide a number of means to break down boundaries that are related to the stereotypes concerning age. Ageing is not boring, it is a process that can and should be celebrated.
The theme of the 6th edition of FASHIONCLASH festival was 'AGE' and the art of ageing in the broadest sense.
The exhibition is composed of age themed curated work.

Exhibtion participants: Bora Hong (South Korea)
, Branko Popovic (Netherlands), Daniel Ramos Obregon (Colombia)
,  Daphne Hobbelen – Schaffenskraft (Netherlands)
, Georgia Xanthe Dorey (Uk)
, Ine de Haes (Belgium)
, IXX, Strikks, Elsewerk, B-Made (Netherlands),  Judith Jans & Eva Vermeulen (Netherlands), Kate Langrish Smith (UK)
, Olga Ozierankska (Poland)
, Peter Hsieh (Taiwan)
, Sanne Ree Barthels (Netherlands)
, Shana Teugels (Belgium)
, Stefanie Barz (Germany)
, Yoni Lefévre (Netherlands), (OLD)Fashion(ed) Project, VERWEVEN 2014 Project

If not menion otherwise, all images are courtesy of BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG.