{"id":62004,"date":"2018-02-21T12:12:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T11:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=62004"},"modified":"2018-02-21T12:12:17","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T11:12:17","slug":"nhu-duong-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/nhu-duong-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Fashion to Become Who You Want to Be: The Transformative Power of Nhu Duong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The lookbook for Nhu Duong\u2019s SS18 collection features a photograph of a marathon<\/a>, the runners caught between the shoulders of a young couple. The image is striking in its distinction from the rest of the lookbook. Aside from one blurred shot of leaves in a courtyard, every other image showcases the collection on two female models, their hair slicked back and faces painted ghostly white. When we sat down in her studio-cum-budding retail space in West Berlin, Duong told me the shot was captured spontaneously as the marathon passed by the location of the shoot. The photo\u2019s inclusion is a fitting visual symbol for Duong\u2019s ethos and design \u2014 both have a chameleonic quality about them, drawing from the surroundings, shape shifting based on their context. Nhu Duong<\/a> doesn\u2019t design clothes to appease a certain scene or style; she designs clothes that help each wearer inch a little closer to the person they want to be.<\/span>
\nThe marathon photo also takes on added significance when you consider Duong\u2019s work often explores the importance and purpose of uniforms, and different codes of dress. The contrast between the runner\u2019s uniforms and the leisurely style of the couple serves as a perfect visual metaphor for Duong\u2019s interest in blurring binaries. We spoke to Duong about the binaries she blurs both in her collections and her career; professionalism\/rebellion, work\/leisure and fashion\/art.\"\"<\/span>
\nWhat I find particularly fascinating about your work is that the themes and concepts are quite tangible; rather than, say, \u201cnature\u201d or \u201cpolitics\u201d, it\u2019s about the actual performance and transformation clothes bring about, and breaking conventional codes of dress. Tell us about how these ideas figured into your most recent collection. <\/b><\/em>
\nI think, for me, putting on clothes is always performative and transformative. Since I was a kid, I kind of realized that fashion is a way to stand out and fit in at once. \u00a0I moved to Sweden when I was very young \u2014 that was a big culture difference, and I started to experiment with fashion. Playing with style was a way for me to try on different roles.<\/span>
\nThe last collection was more of an animalistic interpretation of that thought; working with this idea of metamorphosis, and cocooning, and transformation.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nIn terms of what you were saying when you moved to Sweden, were you using clothes to fit in or to stand out?<\/b><\/em>
\nBoth. I like playing with those codes. When you move to a new country as a child, it\u2019s natural that you try to adjust to your new surroundings, and to a certain degree reinvent yourself. For me fashion is very direct expression of that: taking things you may know from one cultural context and putting them in another. <\/span>
\nThe theme of disrupting codes of dress carries through into the lookbook of your most recent collection \u2014 there are intriguing elements like a photo of a marathon race. The blotchy white face paint also disrupts codes of conventional beauty – would you like to talk about the motives or stories behind these, and any other curio in the collection?<\/b><\/em>
\nEssentially I think it is about the juxtaposition of opposites creating a contrast and blurring binaries such as as human and nonhuman, night and day, black and white, male and female. And I was imagining some sort of night creature, you know. Night creatures at the beach, wearing sunscreen.<\/span>
\nYour \u201cWork\u201d collection also focused heavily on breaking codes – namely, what\u2019s appropriate and what\u2019s not. Was the collection a straight rebellion against appropriateness, or is the relationship more complicated than that? <\/b><\/em>
\nThat collection was inspired by work, office and hobby uniforms, and I was exploring the function of the dimensional clothing. There\u2019s like a Kung-Fu outfit, and obviously Kung-Fu is something that has a strict uniform, and you look very disciplined \u2014 but we turned it into a pyjama. So, I\u2019m wearing it in a more relaxed and lazy way. It was about blurring the ideas of work and leisure. On top of that it was also a play with the notion of to work it, and posing in front of the camera. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\nIn terms of conventional professionalism, your own career has also broken some codes. You\u2019ve shown at fashion weeks, but you\u2019ve also shown at Biennials \u2014 what\u2019s the motivation there? What are the advantages\/disadvantages of showing outside of fashion week?<\/b><\/em>
\nI haven\u2019t been that strategic about it, I\u2019m just trying to follow my own narrative. I come from Sweden; Sweden has a very strong fashion industry, but a small scene. So when I graduated, I just wanted to be independent and challenge my own creative process by experimenting with different ways of producing fashion. Fashion is changing a lot, and so you have to experiment with new ways of both making and showing clothes. For me collaboration with other people and new contexts \u2014 ranging from art and music to architecture and business \u00a0\u2014 allowed me to open up my process. It is fascinating to see how the context can change the perception of your work.<\/span>
\nYou recently shared an <\/b>incredible video from this DIS collaborative show you participated in<\/b><\/a>, which has a totally different energy to your solo shows. How was it to see your clothes interpreted like that?<\/b><\/em>
\nI loved that. This is actually what I enjoy the most, just to see my clothes in another context, how people wear them. I don\u2019t have a fixed idea how I want to people to wear my clothes.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nWhat drew you to Berlin in the first place? <\/b><\/em>
\nI was attracted to the diversity the cultural scene here. I am constantly in contact with other practices like dance, art, music or theatre. So there is a natural exchange of ideas and sensibilities, which often leads to some kind of cross-over or collaboration. It is this kind of excess that inspires me about Berlin.<\/span>
\nWhat can we do as individuals to start breaking codes of appropriateness, flattery, acceptability, etc. when we dress? How do we access what you\u2019ve described as the \u201cself we can be\u201d? <\/b><\/em>
\nI think again it\u2019s about this idea of transformation and seeing fashion as performative. So it\u2019s more about who you can become, you know, rather than what you are.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nI understand one of your latest projects is a retail space \u2014 how is that going? What\u2019s your vision for the space? <\/b><\/em>
\nSpace 31 is a retail space in Berlin near Potsdamer Strasse which stages curated, thematic exhibitions, events and collaborations that blur the boundary between fashion, art, music and retail. It\u2019s going to be connected to an online platform, and I\u2019m thinking also to take this to, for example, Stockholm, because I feel like there would be a big interest for that, there as well. Sweden is very small, but you know, the kids are amazing. I also think it\u2019s important to put them in a more international context. Inviting international people to collaborate there as well.<\/span>
\nCan you tell us anything about the new collection you\u2019re working on? <\/b><\/em>
\nI think it\u2019s going to be similar topics to this collection; often there is a natural and fluid progression of themes from one collection to the other. I\u2019m kind of reimagining how to present collections; I want to do more customer-oriented events instead of a traditional fashion show.<\/span>
\nAside from the new collection, I also just made costumes for the theater play \u201cHealth and Safety\u201d at Gr\u00fcner Salon at Volksb\u00fchne, written and directed by Max Pitegoff and Calla Henkel. It runs until 3rd of March.<\/span>
\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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