Modern Challenges, Innovative Solutions: “Utopian Bodies – Fashion Looks Forward” @ Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm |

Conductive threads and embedded sensors, microelectronic circuits and robotic skins: in the last few years quite a few fashion designers have developed, experimented and integrated in their creations advanced materials to come up with innovative and original pieces.

Some of these designs could be considered as prototypes, others are instead genuine visions of a utopian (or dystopian in some cases…) fashion future in which garments and accessories will make us feel like superheroes and superheroines or more simply improve our lives by guaranteeing a better fit, protect our bodies or even deliver vitamins and medicines through our skin.

If you feel intrigued by the possibilities of the future of fashion, then check out the exhibition "Utopian Bodies – Fashion Looks Forward" at the Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm.

The event is divided in eleven galleries tackling very relevant topics and themes, with some utopian ideas included – Sustainability, Change, Technology, Craft & Form, Craft & Colour, Resistance & Society, Resistance & Beauty, Solidarity, Memory, Gender Identity and Love.

The 200 objects featured, accompanied by a series of images and videos (by Nick Knight/SHOWstudio, Geoffrey Lillemon and George Tsioutsias), answer a series of questions that focus on the possibilities of using fashion to create a better future, or to come up with designs that, relating to the human body, can help us functioning better in everyday life or finding the energy and strength to face modern challenges.

The selection criteria for the pieces in the show was one – creativity – and this is perfectly proved by the variety of the designs featured with highlights including designs from couture collections such as a Spring/Summer 2013 Dior ensemble with a detailed floral pattern (a view into the future of the maison under Raf Simons' direction); a design from Viktor & Rolf's Van Gogh inspired S/S 2015 collection, and their iconic "Hana Bedtime Story" ensemble from 2005.

The transformative power of fashion is explored via Hussein Chalayan's ground-breaking table skirt ("Afterwords", 2000) and moulded plastic dress ("Inertia", 2009); Walter Van Beirendonck's "Stop Racism" headdress from "Crossed Crocodiles" (Autumn/Winter 2014), provides instead a message for the resistance and society theme.

The focus is instead in the materials when it comes to Issey Miyake's Spring/Summer 1999 A-POC collection, made with zero-waste, and Jólan van der Wiel's and Iris Van Herpen's magnetic and 3D-printed shoes.

Fashionistas partial to more commercial fashion houses and names will enjoy an Alexander McQueen's gown from his "In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692" Collection (A/W 2007), Prada's sparkling rainbow coat (S/S 2014 collection) and designs from Rick Owen's A/W 2015 collection that caused a media stir due to the strategically cut holes revealing the models' genitals.

The list of international designers is long and features Kenzo, Gucci, Acne, Bless, Dries Van Noten, Bernhard Willhelm, Naomi Filmer, Sonia Rykiel, Chloe, Elsa Schiaparelli, as well as Versace, Maison Martin Margiela and Comme des Garçons for H&M.

Yet visitors interested in discovering their own favourite vision for the future through the next generation of avant-garde fashion designers from around the world will find more interesting Ryohei Kawanishi's collection that address the nuclear disaster of Fukushima; Anrealage's garments questioning perceptions through creating optical illusions; Maiko Takeda's futuristic headgear (as seen on the artwork of Björk's latest album); H&M prize winner Minju Kim's voluminous garments; Vogue Fashion Fund nominees Gypsy Sport and Chromat, plus designers such as Claire Barrow, Craig Green and Grace Wales Bonner, all translating resistance into fashion.

Traditional craftsmanship is instead represented by Swedish court jewellers W.A. Bolin, Saville Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes, and Parisian shoemakers Massaro.

Visitors who are on the lookout for clever solutions to recycling and utilising new raw materials will be able to admire byBorre's "BB.suit 0.2" a garment capable of cleaning polluted air through a portable filtering system; Pauline Van Dongen's solar panel shirt; Smart Textiles's first completely recyclable cotton fabric; Miguel Mesa Posada's clothes made of recycled car tires, and Qmilk's garments made of biologically degradable milk fibres, while Valerie Lamontagne's clothes change their properties according to the weather, pointing towards a future with less over specified garments, which would use fewer natural resources.

There is more to discover, though, for techno-fans and geeks: Ying Gao makes clothes that interact with onlookers' gaze or voice; Satsuki Ohata's "fondue-slippers" can be tailor-made at home through dipping your feet in a solution; Billie Whitehouse's and Ben Moir's "Navigate" jackets have vibrating mechanisms embedded in the shoulders, allowing wearers to find the way without looking at a map; Cutecircuit's shirts can send hugs to other wearers, and Beanotherlab's latest technology allows for users to experience the body of someone else.

The "Memory" room is a real highlight of the event: this is indeed a very important theme in our society, especially if we consider that the number of people with dementia is steadily increasing.

As seen in a previous post, garments can provide a material memory, they can make us recall the past, and at times they even have magical properties (think about a lucky shirt…).

People from all walks of life were asked to exhibit a garment that tells a personal story and the final selection on display in this room also includes mementos from Hamish Bowles, Christian Lacroix, and Twiggy.

There is also another unique twist in this exhibition as sixteen Swedish designers have been especially commissioned to create unique garments for the event.

It will be hard to resist Bea Szenfeld's "Mini Miki" design with all its paper puppets cocooning the body of the wearer ("Resistance & Beauty" section), but there is a lot to discover among the pieces by Ann-Sofie Back (for the room "Resistance & Society"), Anna-Sara Dåvik ("Memory"), CMMN SWDN ("Gender"), Diana Orving ("Solidarity"), Gudrun Sjödén ("Craft & Colour"), H&M ("Sustainability and Love"), Ida Klamborn ("Sustainability"), Ida Sjöstedt ("Gender"), Lamija Suljevic ("Change"), Maja Gunn ("Gender"), New Black ("Resistance & Society"), Patrik Söderstam ("Resistance & Beauty"), Sandra Backlund ("Craft & Form"), This is Sweden ("Resistance & Society") and Ulrika Elovsson ("Change").

The exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue edited by Johan Deurell and Hanne Eide, has a great focus on children activities as well, with a special catalogue for children looking at the main themes of the event in a pedagogic way (a clever idea, if we consider that practically almost no exhibitions out there have a separate volume dedicated to children…).

Will we ever reach the point where we will manage to hybridise science, technology and couture? Time will tell, in the meantime, there's a lot to discover, see and ponder about at "Utopian Bodies – Fashion Looks Forward".

"Utopian Bodies – Fashion Looks Forward", 25th September 2015 – 7th February 2016, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Djurgårdsvägen 60, Stockholm, Sweden.

Image credits for this post

Bea Szenfeld, "Mini Miki", 2015
Theme: Resistance & Beauty
Photo: Mattias Lindbäck

H&M, "Sustainability – Beauty beyond debris", 2015
Theme: Sustainability
Photo: Mattias Lindbäck

Ann-Sofie Back, "Porn" 2011
Theme: Resistance & Beauty
Photo: Mattias Lindbäck

Anna-Sara Davik, "Kikero", 2015
Theme: Memories
Photo: Mattias Lindbäck

Alexander McQueen, Dress, "In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692" Collection (Autumn/Winter 2007). Courtesy of RKL Consulting.
Photo: Mattias Lindbäck

Viktor & Rolf, "Hana Bedtime Story" ensemble (Autumn/Winter 2005). Courtesy the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, loan from Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge.
Photo: Team Peter Stigter

Prada, Spring/Summer 2014 Collection

Rick Owens, Autumn/Winter 2015 Collection
Photo: Valerio Mezzanotti, Courtesy OWEN CORP

Hussein Chalayan, Ensemble, Spring/Summer 2013

Jolan van der Wiel x Iris van Herpen, Magnetic shoe
Photo: Federico Da Fies

Maiko Takeda, Headwear, "Atmospheric Reentry", 2013.
Photo: Yuen Hsieh

Gypsy Sports, Spring/Summer 2015

Ryohei Kawanishi, Ensemble, "Fairy Tales" 2012
Photo: Yuta Kawanishi

Satsuki Ohata, Fondue Slipper 2014
Photo: Shouta Kikuchi

Manon Kündig, Ensemble, "Bowerbird" 2012.
Photo: Michaël Smits

Walter Van Beirendonck, Headwear, "Weird" Collection (Autumn/Winter 2005)
Courtesy of Mode Museum Antwerp
Foto: Roland Stoops

Nadine Goepfert, Memory Foam Pullover 2013
Photo: Sanna Helena Berger

Miguel Mesa Posada, Dress, "Altiplano", 2014
Photo: Estudio Silva/Moreno