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Eko Nugroho x Major Minor: WHEN ART MEETS FASHION
After providing visuals for a Louis Vuitton limited edition scarf series, internationally renowned artist Eko Nugroho is now lending his artistic skills to local fashion house Major Minor
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After providing visuals for a Louis Vuitton limited edition scarf series, internationally renowned artist Eko Nugroho is now lending his artistic skills to local fashion house Major Minor.
Eko Nugroho's collaboration with Major Minor, which will form part of his solo exhibition Landscape Anomaly resulted in a set of modern, minimalist styles that were showcased at Salihara in South Jakarta.
He said that the collaboration represented a continuation of his previous work for the French fashion house Louis Vuitton, entitled Republik Tropis, in 2013.
'My task with Major Minor was quite challenging as I needed to think about the whole look, not just the scarves like before,' he said at the opening of his exhibition.
Eko's signature icons of eyes, masked faces and fish scales are incorporated into Major Minor's sharp lines and asymmetrical styles, taken from its Spring/Summer 2016 collection.
Parts of the collection were showcased at the recent Paris Fashion Week and Jakarta Fashion Week.
'The collaboration is designed for our ready-to-wear lines, Major Minor Signature and Maha. We hope it will make our fashion scene more dynamic,' Major Minor's head designer, Inneke Ambarwati, said.
The front panel of a white shirt-dress in the collection features a drawing of Eko's of an intricate arrangement of leaves with a pair of eyes popping out, and sequins added also.
The iconic eyes, tiny ones, appear again on a white-on-white outfit, adding a touch of color to the look.
Eko said that the eyes in his works serve as a reflection of his generation and their experience of the reformation era after 1998.
'Eyes act as windows of knowledge, where we can see and learn about anything. When I use eyes in my works, that means I'm criticizing someone or something, but not judging them,' Eko said.
While the masks that appeared in his works, he added, were his way of showing the reality of life, a balance of good and bad things in life, while at the same time becoming an identity for someone in a certain situation.
Fish-scale patterns are featured on an asymmetrical black-and-white vest, on a two-tone long jacket worn over a dress, embroidered on a collar and used to decorate the chest of a white blouse, generating a casual but fun style.
Major Minor also showcased long dresses with sequins forming fish scales and pieces of blades forming embellishments for those who opt for a more elegant look.
In the collection, Eko and Major Minor also worked on a selection of colorful scarves that were draped or belted onto the clothes.
Some of the scarves came in magenta, black and bright green, still featuring those iconic eyes, placed together with plants, sea anemones and blades.
The fashion collaboration aims to become a breakthrough in both fashion and art, as well as completing Eko's artistic portfolio for his 'Landscape Anomaly' exhibition.
In the exhibition, which runs until Dec. 21 at Salihara, Eko's vibrant, thought-provoking work ' his artistic interpretation of politics and social conditions nowadays ' is vivid.
Unfortunately, the collection, with the exception of the scarves, seemed to have missed the pop art elements that form the unique characteristics of Eko's other work and the vibe of his solo exhibition in particular.
'Collaboration is the unification of two or many ideas and designs. There have been many adaptations, and the work I made in this fashion collaboration is not the same as my personal work,' Eko said.
'This one is a pilot project, and there may be more similar collaborations in the future.'
' Photos by JP/Don
