Winner G-Star RAW Talent Award 2010

I have a fascination for crimescene photography from the beginning of the twentieth century. The anonymity in these pictures creates a certain distance that makes it possible for me to judge them on an aesthetic level. They are all about a structured chaos: the twisted, the uneasiness, the physical provide them with a surrealistic, esthetical value. I don’t admire death, I don’t embrace the killer, nor the deceased, but all that is left: a small piece of history, and because of the anonymity: questions and quietness.This menswear collection shows the surrealistic and anonymous point of view. Shirts that cover the head and therefore also the identity of the wearer or a sweater that seems to carry a piece of a ripped blanket from a bed.

I used colours as seen in the pictures: shades of black and white.  Everything has a somewhat androgynous feel, for it could be for anyone or anything.  It seems impersonal and discarded from drama, however, the personal feel is in the details: the use of delicate cotton lace, silk velvet ribbons and subtle hand stitching.

Photo: Lonneke van der Palen