CH talents: Depicting Fashion

Previously I’d been lucky enough to work at DASH Magazine in London, a fresh bi-annual fashion magazine focusing on fashion and fashion art. Since NoéMie Schwaller, Editor in Chief of DASH, is Swiss-born, DASH teamed up with the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK to showcase selected artworks of Swiss fashion talents as part of the British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase 2013 held during London Fashion Week.
The panel discussion accompanying the exhibition ‘CH talents: Depicting Fashion’ took place on 16th February 2013 and featured participating designerLaend Phuengkit and Julia Winkler, Deputy Editor in Chief of annabelle magazine Silvia Binggeli as well as fashion illustrator Spiros Halaris and was moderated by NoéMie Schwaller.

The designers talked about their personal notion of belonging. Laend, for example, mentioned that he fuses his Swiss and Thai origins with a touch of Berlin style in his designs. Julia and Laend also discussed the current situation of the Swiss fashion landscape, concluding that showing too much of an interest towards fashion can make look like the the odd-one-out. The questions varied from rather personal to more general, such as the importance of finding a balance between creativity and commerce. Silvia from annabelle magazine personally admires those designers who can be commercial, while at the very same time maintaining their unique style, while Spiros talked about his fascination with the freedom that fashion illustration, as an art form, offers.

The designers featured in the exhibition were Julian Zigerli, PortenierRoth,Stefanie Biggel, Studio Laend Phuengkit, Studio Winkler and YVY, and since some of them are now residing and working in cities like London, Berlin or Paris, it was also interesting to see how they fuse Swiss attributes with, for example, the madness of London. Besides the showcased artworks, illustrations and garments, I was most taken by the AW13 film by Zurich-based menswear designer Julian Zigerli, in which prints, cuts and materials from his collection are reminiscent of the feeling of ‘coming home and, at the same time, letting go’. Well done Switzerland, you’ve got some serious talent over there!

Reka Pasztor Turak