Gösta von Platen - Breaking Bodily Boundaries

Photography: Polo Lindström Muller

Meet Gösta von Platen, a Swedish fashion designer specialising in menswear, currently doing an internship with a menswear label in Paris. Through his work, he aims to create an environment that can evolve over time, exploring the boundaries between body, material and environment.

You will be able to admire his work between the 11th and 17th of June at De Bijenkorf as part of the Showpieces exhibit.

What made you realize that you wanted to work in this field? 

Early on I was drawn to the visual arts, which developed into a fascination for the connection between the body and the outer world. While working with painting, photography, music and installation I found it the most interesting to combine the different mediums and conceptualize the outcome in relationship to the body.






What would you say are your main achievements in your career?
As a newly graduated fashion design student in Berlin, what I feel is my greatest achievement at the moment is that I moved to Paris and am now doing an internship to gain experience as a professional.

What are your sources of inspiration?
I find inspiration in all sorts of places, but what really inspires me is the interaction with whatever it is I find inspiring. I try to dive deep into the source and see the connections to other places. Fields I regularly search for inspiration are contemporary art, natural experiences, human bodies, light and music. My projects also normally starts with thorough reading on the topic.


Why did you decide to participate in FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018? 
FASHIONCLASH seems like an ideal place to meet other designers and artists to discuss how fashion can be something more than just clothes, yet focusing on the essential in fashion; clothes. 

What do you love most about fashion? What are the biggest struggles in this sector? 
The simplicity of clothes being what we cover and protect our body with, yet while also being extremely sensitive, intimate, personal and expressive. The biggest struggle today is to keep it personal and positive in an industry heavily influenced by big corporations with a negative impact on our environment.

Photography: Polo Lindström Muller

How would you define fashion?
A liquid mass of ideas and and material, constantly expanding and moving.

What do you think are the most important issues in fashion today?
My biggest concern is how fashion is going to adjust to a sustainable practice and as well how to develop with modern technology. How we will interact with our clothes and what part fashion will play in a future society built around a digital lifestyle is still to be discovered.

How do you think fashion contributes to society, can it contribute to a better world?
I do believe fashion can have a positive impact on our society in many aspects. Clothes are what we keep closest to our body and they carry our memories and feelings as we live. The fast fashion cycle easily makes us forget this. By finding a close bond to ones clothes we can help interact with each other, evolve culturally and understand differences better. To dress should be fun, and so also fashion, keeping our mind fresh and healthy.

Photography: Polo Lindström Muller

How would you describe the concept behind your project?
My collection Bodily Encounter / Materia wound was a search for a closer bond to my own material world. I wanted to see if a physical meeting with objects could create a spiritual experience and how it would effect my own behavior. I found that the trinity of body, material and environment builds an essential network, where each part has equal influence. Therefore I approached the collection as an installation creating my own landscape holding the body and extending into the surroundings.

What inspired you?
The starting point was mainly the rhizome theory by Deleuze and Guattari, and as well Bruno Latour’s actor/network theory. To visualize these ideas I turned to art, and especially the work and ideas of Mark Rothko and Joseph Beuys had a strong influence on the project. Ultimately it was my own self experiment with my own body taking place in my home, which was documented by photo, that initiated the creative process.

How would you describe your project in three words?
Breaking bodily boundaries

What projects are you involved in at the moment? What are your next steps?
At the moment my brain is resting while awaiting a new personal project to dive into. (The art of doing nothing is just as important as the art of doing something, which we tend to forget in fashion.) But soon, very soon, I will continue my work and continue in a more conceptual direction investigating the area between fashion and art. Aiming at creating rather an environment than a collection, which can evolve over a longer period of time.

What are your thoughts regarding fashion and religion?
Fashion can be used as a tool to search for answers of spiritual questions. I don’t think one can see fashion as a religion but rather a medium for exploration and communication for modern society. 

Who is your favorite artist? (at the moment) Alicja Kwade

Who is your favorite designer? Henrik Vibskov