LAGOM by MIJ x MILA HALIZOVA

Dance performance "LAGOM" brings the art of contemporary dance and fashion on the stage to speculate on consumption. Consumerism in everyday life, creativity and consciousness. Minimalist aesthetics in a confrontation with a perversion of excess. What is the highest level of consumption and where it could bring you? Through dance exploration, plastic experiments and various techniques of contemporary and urban dance MIJ asks these questions and comes to an unexpected answers from the side of art. One of the most essential part of our work is the outfit: its absence or presence, minimalism or overbalance, preciseness or mess. Clothes become a metaphor of the main idea and are designed by young Russian designer Mila Halizova, the follower of minimalist style, non-linear forms and restraint based on the idea of «Deceptive simplicity». What is LAGOM? We explore different cultures and their attitude to life, art, design, space, way of thinking and consumerism to find an ultimate example of relationship between human and nature, human and society, human and its inner world. Lagom is a uniquely Swedish term, that doesn’t have an English equivalent. Popular etymological translation is “around the team” meaning enough food or drink for everyone at the table. Lagom is “Just enough,” “Not too much or too little,” “Just right,” “Enough to go around,” “Fair share”. It indicates balance. The value of "just enough" can be compared to the idiom "less is more”.

Photos: Team Peter Stigter

Raya van der Kroon - Pretty Exposed

Pretty Exposed performance by Raya van der Kroon presented in the Fashion Makes Sense LAB, during the Afterparty of FASHIONCLASH Festival Pretty Exposed is a project by Raya van der Kroon, featuring designers Nine Parre - Deniece Clermonts & performers Emma Haniotis Riccetto - Aziza Prameswara - Vanessa Ntinu. ‘Is female nakedness in nightlife clothing a result of sexualisation or female empowerment?’ As an i-Arts graduate I dove into the history of unclothing, the growth of new feminism, and the use of nakedness as a tool for either protest or attraction. Engaging into highly revealing sceneries - the nightlife of Amsterdam and of Rio de Janeiro - I concluded that my vision on contemporary femininity is a fusion of both places and their characteristics. Whereas Amsterdam is trying to re-incorporate femininity into feminism, Rio is striving for more social equality within their sensual culture: both are longing for a balance between sexiness and empowerment. The balance and combination of the terms is the core of this work: the visualization of the sensual feminist, the combination of Amsterdam and Rio. This idea is translated into a nightlife clothing collection, presented through an immersive performance, a magazine and exhibition.

Photos: Team Peter Stigter

SENSES AND FASHION - INSPIRATION

“Fashion is about bodies; it is produced, promoted and worn by bodies. It is the body that fashion speaks to and it is the body that must be addressed in almost all social encounters”  (Entwistle, 2000).

·         “With aging, sensations may be reduced or changed. These changes can occur because of decreased blood flow to the nerve endings or to the spinal cord or brain. The spinal cord transmits nerve signals and the brain interprets these signals.” Pen State Hershey

 “Sensation is fundamental to our experience of the world. Shaped by culture, gender, and class, the senses mediate between mind and the body, idea and object, self and environment.” - The Senses and Society

         "Fashion in the context of art makes sense as an evolving form which offers ongoing exploration in understanding the self and in helping me to create connections with others through shared experience." – Jo Cope

        "The senses are one of the things that make us more sensitive as human beings, connecting us to experiences in an intimate way. The sense of the self and the relationship and development of the inner being and how that might be projected outwardly is explored in some of my work." – Jo Cope

        "Does fashion make sense if the quality of the products is low, the labor conditions are poor and it harms the environment terribly? The psychology behind fashion has become less about quality or durability and more about being fast, cheap and easy to replace." – SHI[R]T.

·         "It is inevitable to think of the human body, in any aspect of fashion, without the relation to the senses. They are meant to be provoked, teased and challenged to a game that will result in pure pleasure." – LUDUS

·         "Clothing is in a close relation to the human body because of its tangibility. Body feels the fabric and decides whether it will accept it or not. When they match, they become one. Clothing and fabrics shape the body reacting differently on each person. Clothing serves the body's appearance and also helps a person to express themselves." – NIKA TOM

·       “Clothing, as an extension of the skin, can be seen both as a heat-control mechanism and a means of defining the self socially.” - Marshall McLuhan