<\/p>\n
\n\tAt Avavav, guests didn\u2019t watch the show. The show watched them.<\/p>\n
\n\tOnce again creative director Beate Skonare Karlsson came up with an unexpected format, this time to tap into a social commentary around the male and female gaze in fashion.<\/p>\n
\n\tShe ostensibly invited guests to a presentation, only to stage a show-cum-performance repeated in two time slots. Attendees lined up outside what looked like the backstage of a show, before being called one by one to step into the stark venue. They soon discovered they were the models, since they had to walk down a straight runway, toward a podium of photographers and, most importantly, passing between models lined up on each side and staring at them menacingly. All the while, a voiceover featured interviews of male designers describing their female muses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was an enjoyable or dreadful experience \u2013 depending on each guest\u2019s level of confidence. The scrutiny game likely made it an uncomfortable one for many, which somewhat proved the designer\u2019s point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating to be a woman in an industry that is so focused on women and women\u2019s wear and yet the female perspective is quite rare and underrepresented,\u201d said Skonare Karlsson. \u201cI\u2019m not really selling anything bad or good about it; I just think it\u2019s like not talked about enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis spurred her research into the differences she notices when she dresses for other women, an act freed from performing for approval. \u201cWhen I dress for women, I don\u2019t want to be pretty. I want to be confident, special, the most interesting version of myself. There\u2019s a different kind of power in that,\u201d said the designer.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn her collection, this was translated into hybrid shapes, evoking the intention not to be put in a box. Tailored pinstripe pants merged with pencil skirts, simple logoed t-shirts were turned corporate-ready with a built-in construction of a tie, while basketball shorts morphed into bon-ton A-line skirts to wear with lace tops.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs always in Skonare Karlsson\u2019s work, there was room for irony, where padded bras stuffed with tissue paper, pearls, fishnet stockings and garters nodded to clich\u00e9s of femininity.<\/p>\n
\n\tHer signature goth streetwear staples like t-shirts and hoodies with rib cage cutouts and the quirky silhouettes of wired miniskirts also addressed \u201cthe idea of femininity that is so much in the body and how we sculpt it into an ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHeaded to the gym or not, the Avavav woman can also rely on second-skin track jackets and trompe l\u2019oeil mini shorts that are part of the brand\u2019s fourth collaboration with Adidas Original.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At Avavav, guests didn\u2019t watch the show. The show watched them. Once again creative director Beate Skonare Karlsson came up with an unexpected format, this time to tap into a social commentary around the male and female gaze in fashion. She ostensibly invited guests to a presentation, only to stage a show-cum-performance repeated in two time slots. Attendees lined up outside what looked like the backstage of a show, before being called one by one to step into the stark venue. They soon discovered they were the models, since they had to walk down a straight runway, toward a podium of photographers and, most importantly, passing between models lined up on each side and staring at them menacingly. All the while, a voiceover featured interviews of male designers describing their female muses.\u00a0 It was an enjoyable or dreadful experience \u2013 depending on each guest\u2019s level of confidence. The scrutiny game likely made it an uncomfortable one for many, which somewhat proved the designer\u2019s point.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating to be a woman in an industry that is so focused on women and women\u2019s wear and yet the female perspective is quite rare and underrepresented,\u201d said Skonare Karlsson. \u201cI\u2019m not really selling anything bad or good about it; I just think it\u2019s like not talked about enough.\u201d This spurred her research into the differences she notices when she dresses for other women, an act freed from performing for approval. \u201cWhen I dress for women, I don\u2019t want to be pretty. I want to be confident, special, the most interesting version of myself. There\u2019s a different kind of power in that,\u201d said the designer. In her collection, this was translated into hybrid shapes, evoking the intention not to be put in a box. Tailored pinstripe pants merged with pencil skirts, simple logoed t-shirts were turned corporate-ready with a built-in construction of a tie, while basketball shorts morphed into bon-ton A-line skirts to wear with lace tops. As always in Skonare Karlsson\u2019s work, there was room for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}