BIG BANG, 2010 -2012
Our times are afflicted by a flood of narcissism and an obsessive cult of self-expression. One tireless motor in the production of beauty is the Fashion Industry. To maintain itself this business must be exceedingly flexible and adaptive. Thus what is perceived as fine and lovely continually shifts according to a prevailing taste, one that passes through ever more ephemeral cycles. They have altered the way we regard youth and age, beauty and character, our own selves and femininity. Modern life has become fare moved from anything resembling authenticity or truth. However, the ideal body appears as a constant factor transported through all of these changes. In the media image created by the Fashion World the gaze stays trained upon a distorted vision of the human body. The transience of youth and a potential estimation of naturalness is suppressed in favour of the perfect silhouette. It is impossible to deny that an obsession with the slim dynamic body and never-ending youth are intrinsic to this system. Besides fashion itself, models and designers stand as the most important protagonists within the systems of the Fashion World. A core mode of operation reveals itself exactly in these human players. Fashion designers use their models like avatars and compose with the malleability of their young frames. Everywhere our vision is filled with underweight bodies. On the “runway” they become the proxies of the artistic or graphic sketches of their creators. At the end the whole extent of the tragedy reveals itself. A manipulation by ageing design-icons of these frail figures forces one to contemplate face-to-face a view of beauty and youth, that is helpless and constrained. Gender identities and gender roles tend to be particularly reinforced in fashion through selfdramatization. In my photographic series I focus a spotlight on the contemporary vision of women. The electrifying moment of triumph is near.

Foto: Jan Friese_   Hair & Make-up: Rebecca Keim __Fashion & Styling: Ekachai Eksaroj