UTOPIAN BODIES- FASHION LOOKS FORWARD at Liljevalchs Konsthall

Starting on the 25th of this month at Liljevachs in Stockholm, Sweden, ‘Utopian Bodies- Fashion Looks Forward’ allows a visitation inside the minds of past, present and future visionaries of fashion. Arranged over eleven uniquely designed galleries, the exhibition aims to question individual visions of the future based on various notions of utopian ideals including Memory, Resistance and Society, and Sustainability.

Bringing together the likes of Vogue Editor, Hamish Bowles, sixties supermodel Twiggy and ASVOFF founder Diane Pernet to name but a few, the exhibition presents the personal stories and relationships that some of the biggest names in fashion have with garments in it’s memory gallery. More than just clothes, these stories highlight the real importance of the relationships we can build with fashion.

There are also however, plenty of clothes to be seen, adored and gazed upon with awe. From the designs that highlight important shifts in fashion; a Dior Couture ensemble from 2013 marking the houses new creative direction under Belgian designer Raf Simons – to the more politically powerful, like Walter Van Beirendonck’s Stop Racism headdress from Autumn/Winter 2014. And then there are those that mark milestones in fashion and highlight the potential for the future.  Amongst these ingenious designs, are pieces that fused technology and creativity in fashion like Hussein Chalayan’s now infamous Table Dress or Viktor and Rolf’s iconic “Hana Bedtime Story” ensemble from 2005.

The exhibition does more than just look back, as any exhibition about the future of fashion should; it also looks to the future faces of avant-garde. The designers who are using cultural resistance as a force behind their fashion design. With examples including Central Saint Martins graduate, Grace Wales Bonner – who exploded on to the fashion scene with her 2014 Central St Martins graduate collection inspired by Blaxploitation – to other London-based designers, including Claire Barrow and Craig Green as well as Ryohei Kawanishi’s collection, addressing the nuclear disaster of Fukushima.

 

UTOPIAN BODIES- FASHION LOOKS FORWARD runs from September 25th 2015 to February 7th 2016. Visit http://www.liljevalchs.se/ for more information.

 

image 1: Hussein Chalayan ss13, Black Marble Dress.

image 2:  Viktor&Rolf, Ensemble, Hana Bedtime story Autumn/Winter 2005, Courtesy Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, loan from Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge, Photo Team Peter Stigter.

image 3: Rick Owens, Film, Vicious, Spring Summer 2014, Photo Valerio Mezzanotti, Film Owenscorp.

image 4: Maiko Takeda, Headdress, Atmospheric Reentry, 2013 Photo Yuen Hsieh.

 

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