By Esther Munoz / 05-07-2011

Αυθεντες
By Natalie de Koning, Utrecht School of the Arts

Jewellery, diamonds, a third car, another red shoe because the last one wasn’t good enough anymore, the more the merrier. I think nowadays, consuming is getting out of hand. It seems as if people think they need things to shape their identities and cannot see themselves without their possessions. Without those, what’s left? It looks like people want to form some kind of ‘authentic’ identity this way, but in reality, this identity is quite fake.

With this collection, I have tried to showcase this phenomenon in an ironic way. The outfits, inspired by the shape of a diamond, portray a kind of luxury in their details and decorations, but a closer look reveals that the embroidery, buttons and sequins are made out of plastic.

This collection is part of my research on sustainable production solutions. Silks had been painted with tea or in a factory where water is purified and re-used. The leather is residual material. The plastics are from a company where energy and materials are managed in a sustainable manner.

With this collection, I want to question our current attitude towards consumption. I want to direct attention to these topics in order to reduce our carbon footprints.

Photo: Jerom Fischer