Trends are having a moment right now – resist fixity.
Norwegian fashion label HAiK w/ launches its new collection New You – New Me on 24 August 2017 during Oslo Runway. The New You- New Me draws inspiration from the worlds of fashion forecasting and the post-war Japanese dance form Butoh.
With their signature style of deep research, diverse references, and collaboration, the HAiKw/ designers propose New You – New Me as a cutting reflection on how fashion relates to–and is consumed by–projections of its own future.
The collection transforms the language of trend forecasting into the trends themselves as it manipulates the found rhetoric of industry reports and fashion house press releases into clairvoyant prints of pinstripes and wavy lines.
The printed constellations throw industry cant into a universe of floral patterns, watermarks, and color swatches. The collection then overlays these prints onto the corporeal methodology and contorted aesthetics of Butoh. The idea of Butoh, as well as a hands-on collaboration with current Butoh practitioners, works to inspire the family of knots, twists, diagonals, and inversions that distinguishes the collection. The result is a range of apparel that is at once mischievous, experimental, casual, and self-reflective.
The event launching the collection reimagines the typical fashion show into a Butoh performance. HAiKw/ was excited to work with renowned artist and Butoh practitioner Daisuke Yoshimoto as he, in collaboration with the Oslo Butoh-laboratorium, took on New You – New Me in an interactive and improvisational Butoh spectacle. Norwegian musician and composer provided the soundtrack.
The event was graciously hosted by 1857 in their cavernous industrial church-like space located in the Grønland neighborhood of Oslo. A pop-up shop in the gallery’s entrance was opened before and after the performance, offering consumers direct access to select pieces from the collection.
Photo:Jan Khür
