Appearance and Being

Photo Aleksandar Nishkov

Structura Gallery and Mariela Gemisheva

present:

Appearance and Being

installation-performance in two hours, 18.10.2024, Friday, 6 pm

The project Appearance and Being is conceived as a form of presentation and “consumption” of conceptual fashion beyond the traditional convention and function of fashion design. Here fashion is present both as a medium and as an experimental field, where clothing is only a means to play with one’s own personality or to explore the relationship between personality and clothing.

Appearance and Being is a performance or sculptural composition of live models wearing the artist’s latest fashion collection of 11 silhouettes in a single construction named “Spacesuit for Angels”, material 100% silk in achromatic tonality.

The stock also features an iconic self-portrait of M. Gemisheva from the 2002 project “Out of Myself”, where after a purposeful flirtation with her own design she comes to the absolute liberation from it. It is no coincidence that Appearance and Being appeared 22 years later as an action exploring so-called sustainable or slow fashion. Self-awareness is a core function and meaning of contemporary ethical dress.

“My work as a fashion designer and artist is a combination of two approaches – which draws attention to the construction of clothing in the unexpected combination of materials, the specificity of accessories, the overall image and the approach to the distinctly sculptural form of clothing or clothing as an art object. They could not be worn at all times and in all places. Through the composition and dynamics in the silhouettes, the parades represent more than just a display of utilitarian objects. For me, they become a spatial and temporal unfolding of structures and materials, creating the feeling of ”a sculpture exhibition gone for a walk” (Luchezar Boyadjiev). The guiding principle is the play and use of diverse elements in the garment, of forms and signs from different social and cultural spaces, applied through a new harmonious and discordant design approach. Fashion is used as a contemporary phenomenon and is a territory – above all – for artistic activity. I think of myself as a fashion designer who is not interested in fashion.“ (from the Self-Portrait catalogue)

marielagemisheva.com

Special contributions :

Models: IVET FASHION

Make-up: Marina Mladenova

Hair: Vasil Atanassov

Assistants: Kristina Ruseva and Deborah Todorova

Constructor modeler. Petya Dzhukelova

Accessories : Dimitar Delchev

Shoes: HOGL

Event photographer: Vladislava Grigorova

Sound : Elittna

With the support of Sofia Municipality

Images