Fashion

Let’s Talk About S E L F I

Mercedes Benz fashion week Joburg is gone with the wind, and the buzz is temporarily centered on SA fashion week. But before we jump the gun, let’s share the collection that has adamantly refused to evade our thoughts or line of vision. Meaning that, we’ve constantly been thinking about it and Instagram has managed to ensure that it trends on our discovery feed. Not that we’re complaining…

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Experiencing fashion week via social media is much like sitting back row. That is, you hardly get the feeling that comes with being able to see –at an almost microscopic level– the details on the fabrics as each model glides past you. For all we know, photographs may be able to freeze a moment for all eternity, but it hardly ever does justice to the clothes that parade the runway.

Selfi Awake, the Autumn/Winter ’15 collection by Cape Town based brand, S E L F I, is composed of digitally printed pieces, partly inspired by Kazimir Malevich, a Russian painter and pioneer of geometric abstract art.

Pop art, color and grid prints ruled the runway, transitioning from black to white and followed by blue hues. Buttoned shirts, full skirts, and shift dresses came bearing a melange of multidimensional prints, energy waves, digital hands and cells over grids.

Having in mind that each piece should reflect a nostalgic, dreamlike connection between the wearer and item, Celeste Lee Arendse, Creative Director of the brand, manipulates pattern to create accentuated, three dimensional shapes on her attire… ultimately creating form and shape from an essence which is formless and shapeless.

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Sometimes, it’s easy to imagine that when fashion references art to this degree, the result is a garment that’s more ornamental than wearable. But here is evidence; art and wearability are not mutually exclusive, and S E L F I offers enough proof.