Dear Shaded viewers,
For her first collection since winning the LVMH Prize, Ellen Hodakova Larsson met the highest of anticipations. It may have been titled “Conventional Collection 112409”, but the use of entirely repurposed materials in such high degree of craftsmanship made it anything but. HODAKOVA’s approach to deconstruction reimagines not only patterns and silhouettes, but also the purpose of preexisting elements, and lends itself to a new language of sartorial storytelling.
Each garment whispered memories of her upbringing in the Swedish countryside. Zippers meandered, tea towels draped, belts wove and bounced, fur hats huddled – organic forms were crafted from details often overlooked. To evoke the warmth of home, argyle-patterned wools were enveloped with layers of matching sleeves. Dresses and hooded tops, made of starched collars and shirt ruffles, offered a dialogue between the ghosts of antiquity and modernity. Boots stacked into pants resembled an armor, for outdoor exploration. In a drop-waist silhouette and minidresses, skirts and bags, the use of belts has evolved into a HODAKOVA signature.
Each look was a work of art walking through a gallery. In quieter moments, the clinking of pearlesque buttons strung into column dress or the hum of zippers brushing together as a skirt could be heard with each step. Secondhand oil canvases, depicting the fields were Hodakova grew up, were sewn into dresses and coats. Frames hung from shoulders by raw-edge canvases, stitched together with the spirit of childlike imagination. In the final look, a jacket seemed to be shed from the body, exposing inner linings that transformed into a dress and leaving the memory of the suit to fade away.
Later,
Eliya
