Hey the MLE,

I was working on a project that led me to the UEG site the other day, and I thought it was about time I write a post about this fashion brand, as they are so interesting for a number of reasons:

-   They are based in Warsaw.
-   Their pieces are designed to deteriorate over time, as they are all made of Tyvek, that synthetic fabric that feels like paper. "The deterioration is a way to emphasize and meditate on some of the key ideas of consumerism, like the obsession for the new and the resulting quickness with which new becomes old." Definitely the spirit of MOTHandRUST right?
-   Not only do they use only one material, but they also use only 2 non-colours: black or white.  No grey.
-   They do not distinguish between sexes or seasons.
-   One of my favourite artists, Filip Pagowski, has collaborated with them with a line created to raise the awareness of the crucial role bees play in our ecosystem (bottom picture above).
-   They just launched in LA in the US of A.  I love the photoshoot for the launch (pictured above).

I think MOTHandRUST has a lot in common with UEG. Perhaps a collaboration one day?

Suzan x

Hey Suzan!

I am thinking of you with envy today, knowing you're probably sitting out in the Mexican sunshine right this minute, eating tropical fruit and probably getting drunk with your parents. Here in Stockholm it is an unacceptable -5C with snow on the ground. Gruesome!

Anyway, take a look at this Japanese artist, Hiroaki Ohya. I first saw his T-shirt alphabet and was intrigued, as although we come across people doing alphabets out of all sorts of objects on a regular basis, I think this is the first time I've seen one done out of clothing, quite like this. So of course I checked out some of his other stuff and found out that he's a protege of Issey Miyake, doing interesting conceptual fashion-art type projects. Like  his Wizard of Jeans collection – a series of 21 books that transform into clothing when unfolded, title inspired by the Wizard of Oz, of course. Apparently he is "not really interested in the people who wear his clothes" - which isn't that surprising!

Looking forward to having you back next week!

E xx

Hey Suzan!

Since we recently celebrated Chinese New Year – and now we're working on this new packaging project for the Chinese market, I've had China on the brain. Okay, I know it's really old and you've probably already seen it, ....but I'm posting it anyway in the off-chance that maybe you haven't come across this gem, which is an oldie but a goodie.  The title and tagline says it all pretty much: "Accidental Chinese Hipsters: A loving gaze cast upon the grandmother wearing dayglo jeggings and a visor." So it's just a collection of pictures of Chinese people, mostly elderly, totally ignoring (and probably oblivious to) any Western fashion style standards. And the result is hilarious but also endearing - they're wearing crazy colors and patterns and it's not necessarily that they don't know that it looks silly or ugly – it's more that it's functional – and looking silly and ugly is actually quite alright. Finding parallels between these image-oblivious Chinese and  image-conscious hipsters is brilliant, and actually done really affectionately toward both groups. It's written by 20-something Alison Kuo, a Chinese-American artist who grew up in Texas, and I guess these kinds of observations/ironies/commentaries about Chinese culture always strike a chord with me because of my own sort of similar background. But cross-cultural issues aside, the truth is that Chinese people just love making fun of other people, especially each other. But who am I kidding, this will probably be me in like 20 years (or sooner....)!

E xx

 

 

Hi Suzan!

My friend Katrina just introduced me to this publication called Vestoj – meaning "clothing" in Esperanto – that discusses fashion from the points of view of industry, academia, and the museum world. Basically, it's pretty serious fashion talk. And in fact, that's number 3 in their Manifesto: "Fashion must always be taken seriously. We must never be afraid to have pretensions." Hmm. Published annually and free of advertising, so far there are 3 issues, with themes relating fashion with memory, fashion with magic, and fashion with shame. Definitely intrigued. I must admit that I'm always slightly suspicious of over-intellectualizing fashion... but when I saw photos from the launch of the Shame issue at Mens Paris fashion week, featuring performance artists with their skirts tucked into their underwear, my faith was restored. The publisher, former editor at Acne Paper, is going to be the featured speaker at a Creative Mornings session this Friday here in Stockholm, so we're planning to go to check it out. You know how I'm so not a morning person, but it's part of my new mission to take advantage of interesting events like this that are going on all the time, but that I always seem to miss. So hopefully I can overcome my natural tendencies and actually get out of bed to be there at 8 am! Apparently there's gonna be breakfast served too, which is always good incentive. Some wacky fashion performance wouldn't be a bad way to start the day, either!

E xx