Yesterday we looked at physical and digital inspirations and at the moment there is an exhibition at Helsinki's Designmuseo that looks at the intersection between the human body and digital environments in fashion.
"Intimacy" (until 13th March 2022) is an exploration of the relationship between the body and the clothes we wear, passing through the creative design project and looking at the impact of digitalization and datafication on the work of designers.
Garments and accessories connect us with our bodies, but also with other people, so that, even when we say we don't like fashion or we don't follow it, we end up communicating something about ourselves to others.
Yet, in the last few decades, fashion has implemented its communication skills and now carries a variety of messages - from political to sustainable, from inclusive to body positive. Besides, the digitalization of fashion is pushing it towards other boundaries: nowadays we can make or buy luxury outfits for our avatars in videogames and online global platforms; we can buy a digital outfit for a selfie or monitor and store data about ourselves in our clothes and accessories.
Curated by Aalto University Professor Annamari Vänskä, post-doctoral researcher Jenni Hokka and PhD-researcher Natalia Särmäkari, "Intimacy" showcases the works of over 40 Finnish designers and companies.
The starting point for the event is a dictionary entry defining "intimacy" as "the state of being intimate: familiarity", "something of a personal or private nature", "the state of having a close, personal relationship or romantic relationship with someone". From these definitions the curators developed seven themes.
In the "Intimacy of Design" section the curators look at the one-to-one relationship established between artisan and client, so think about a tailor and a customer.
The first step of this relationship is body knowledge: a design starts indeed with an idea or a sketch, but then you need precise calculations, patternmaking skills and material researches to actually make it. So, getting to know the customer's body is crucial and this phase could almost be considered as a careful medical examination that establishes where seams, drapes, folds, ruffles and other elements of the desired design should be placed.
"Public Intimacy" is the opposite of the previous concept and looks at the relationship established between the wearer and the rest of the world.
We are fully clothed when we meet people in public and our clothes depend from different occasions - from formal to informal events - regulated by social norms.
We use some of these occasions as moments for self-expression that define us publicly, revealing who we are, what we support or what we like (think about using colours to show our allegiance to a cause or wearing a simple slogan T-shirt that may reveal our political opinions or personal interests) and how we would like to be perceived by others. Choosing specific brands or designers may also show a belonging to a specific community of fashion fans.
"Changes in Intimacy" refers instead to the changes fashion went through and to the fact that it is nowadays considered as a medium for critical and creative thought, in connection with other fields, including art, architecture and computer games.
The next theme - "Boundaries of Intimacy" - is directly linked with the previous section, as it tries to consider more specific connections between fashion and architecture, painting, sculpture, films and videogames.
The final sections look at the digital world: in "Shared Intimacy", curators were inspired by the 1967 work "The Fashion System" (Système de la mode) by French literary theorist Roland Barthes and by his theory about clothes producing meanings and fashion as a communication tool. But this concept is explored via new means of communication and new fashion interpreters including celebrities and influencers.
"Measured Intimacy" is the practical counterpart of the previous section with a look at wearable technologies - clothes, accessories or jewellery - with measuring or monitoring devices capable of gathering a variety of data.
While the main functions of these clothes and accessories may be measuring activity levels or stress (the exhibition features Moodmetric smart rings that indicate the rises and falls of the wearer's stress level among other things) in sports and workwear (think about devices that monitor the production of workers…), there are monitoring devices for specific medical reasons (for blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen, but think also about trackers for Alzheimer patients and elderly people), workplace security or social interactions.
A final section is dedicated to "An Intimate Experience" and invites instead visitors to consider the ability of fashion to produce multi-sensory experiences with imagination and fantasy.
Visitors will discover a wide range of designers, creators and brands: Venla Elonsalo, a finalist at the 2021 Hyères Festival, incorporates plush toys in her designs; Finnish-Dutch company The Fabricant, known for its 3D garments for avatars, is included with a digital-only fashion video with avatars, while Helsinki-based Sasu Kauppi (who also worked as a consultant for Kanye West's Yeezy) presents an installation in which his designs turn into projection screens.
Other designers focus on body positivity and inclusion: Ervin Latimer, "Young Finnish Designer of the Year" at the 2020 Antwerp Queer Arts Festival, designs clothes that adapt to the wearer's body and size.
In her previous collections Henna Lampinen, was inspired by factory workers in the Second World War, '50s housewives and silver screen goddesses, in the exhibition she challenges body norms with her "They Call it a One Brief Transition" collection and film directed by Rosaliina Paavilainen. In the film Lampinen ponders in which ways thin bodies affect those people whose bodies do not meet ideal dimensions. Through the collection Hampinen hopes to give voice as well as visibility to obese bodies that the fashion industry has systematically sought to ignore.
Fans of sustainability wil be able to discover Rolf Ekroth's clothes made with Bio2™Textile, a bio-based textile fiber that uses straw, a high quality, renewable and recyclable solution that has never been seen before; fans of genderless designs will instead be more interested in checking out all-black, minimalist clothing by Nomen Nescio, a label based in Helsinki. There are more labels, designers and brands to discover or rediscover, among the others iconic Marimekko, and then Wildkind Kids, Anna Isoniemi, Teemu Muurimäki, Aapo Nikkanen, Oura, Leevi Ikäheimo, Vyner Articles, Daniel Palillo, Suunto, Moodmetric and Myontec.
Some of the issues and questions posed by the curators in their research - how can fashion designers influence society through more socially responsible clothing? How has social media influenced the fashion world? In which ways can we connect the human body and technology? - may be answered better in a few years' time, so this event may be considered as a staring point. "Intimacy" is indeed part of a larger project, the research consortium Intimacy in Data-driven Culture, funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland, that will be working for the next three years on the topics of fashion and digitalization.
While it will be exciting to follow the developments of this research in the next few years, some of the current curators' findings and theories are already intriguing: the curators consider indeed the impact of social media and digital technologies on fashion as a form of democratization, as people who previously didn't have any access to this industry, can join the discourse by commenting and debating about it online. But maybe the merit of this exhibition stands in inviting visitors to consider fashion not as something frivolous, but as a powerful entity that works much better when it is creatively combined in connection with other disciplines, such as art, architecture and technology.
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