Dear Shaded Viewers and Diane,
Marit Ilison’s work I had seen once before, in February 2014 when Estonia won the International Fashion Showcase award hosted in London by the British Fashion Council. I was thrilled then, to have the chance to speak with her here in Vicenza. Marit, who’s now also an art director at the Estonian avant-garde Theatre NO99, operates in the field of perceptional experience design. Her Longing for Sleep collection is named after the Estonian title for Chekhov’s short story Let Me Sleep, and dozes in the wintery months of kaamos, a word for when the days are very short and there’s barely any light outside. A concept instantly relatable wherever one comes from, the Soviet woollen blankets Marit turns into soft outerwear are infused with warm nostalgia, and lined with embroidered beads and crystals – like shiny dreams, but also the sandy grains of guilt that grate on our sleeping in, when there’s ever so much work to do.
Later,
Silvia
