“Got it from the top, it’s nothing you can stop
Lord, you know they made a fine connection.”
—They Love Each Other, Grateful Dead
I have always thought that a connection is a difficult thing to find. You have to be extremely lucky to find a person or a group of people in the same place and time that gets you immediately. No explanation required; in the moment you are together, amazing stuff happens. It was while watching a Grateful Dead documentary that I started thinking about this word: connection. Creators of a completely different style of music, they were outcasts that found each other and crafted from scratch the original psychedelic movement in a world that didn’t seem to understand them. Against all odds they succeeded and enchanted the world with their approach to music and life.
This might be the case this year. REMIX 2017 bonds young talents that come from different parts of the planet and still (magically and unexpectedly) have a connection. Together, they will prove what love for fur and fashion can do.
They are ten and each of them has a distinctive personality. So please, allow me to introduce each of them:
The Naturalist: Aigul Asadullina (Russia)
Her collection is based on the love and study of nature. Aigul is inspired by the beauty and mystical significance of environments. For her, clothing should be a smooth extension of nature. She worked with mink, karakul and sheared beaver.
The Dynamist: Jaeheon Lim (Ledo Lim) (Korea)
Jaeheon’s work is stirred by the vitality of natural forces, how we lost this vigour and how it can be re-injected to our lives through fashion and different attires. He worked with silver fox, blue fox, mink, rex rabbit, raccoon.
The Revolutionary: Nicolas Lecourt Mansion (France)
It might be his French background that made Nicolas approach fashion in such a defiant way. He breaks the rules certainly, but without forgetting the principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty. He worked with mink and fox.
The Equalizer: Melissa Victoria Higa (Argentina)
The fire of Latin America is reflected in this young designer’s powerful pieces. For Melissa gender is irrelevant. Equalizing strength, authority and control in their future, women go out to battle. She worked with blue fox, grey fox, and Argentinian wild fox.
The Impressionist: Morten Ussing (Denmark)
As an artist, Morten reproduces the Icelandic landscape through the use of colour and different types of fur. He proves romanticism is not dead giving his collection a nostalgic reminiscence of the roaring 20’s era with an innovative discourse with Icelandic fishermen’s work wear. He worked with Mink, Finn-Raccoon, Swakara and Icelandic goat.
The Omniscient: Yang Xuesong (China)
Yang enters beyond our reality and takes us straight into another’s, where a connection is established between human and animal. He crosses boundaries between nature and us refreshing our perspective of the world. He worked with beaver, Arctic fox and muskrat.
The Blender: Jeremy Gaillard (Switzerland)
Young boys’ attire worn during solemn communions in Europe in the 30’s and 40’s mixed with Hollywood’s glamour. Sounds crazy, eh? But it works! Jeremy blends feminine details of religious, ceremonial garb with the womanly silhouettes of fur coats in film. The connection? Both elements create a visual one- off. He used shadow fox, blue fox and red fox.
The Specialist: Maria Vorobiova (Ukraine)
Maria has a fondness for black. She questions and experiments with the colour from different angles: symbolically, historically, religiously and in physicality. The understanding and study of this colour makes her the specialist of this lot. She knows how to work with it in every level and uses her knowledge to give symbolic connotations with corporeal qualities. These evolve in unique pieces charged with real meaning. She worked with Astrakhan fur, broadtail, lamb and sheared beaver.
The Anthropologist: Iris Alibali (Canada)
Iris makes use of fur as a narrator of the origin and development of native societies from North America. Shapes and material speak loudly about the combative encounters between western colonizers and First Nations and Inuit groups in Canada. The spirituality and courage from original inhabitants comes out proud and powerful through her collection. She used silver fox, red fox, blue fox, arctic white fox, Canadian coyote, white mink, muskrat and raccoon.
The Egalitarian: Olof Sigriour Johannsdottir (Iceland)
Ólöf makes use of colourful patterns and intrinsic design to tell us the story of a world where boundaries do not exist. In this world, working class meets glamour. They don’t clash, they co-exist, nurturing each other in a beautiful yet striking composition. She used mink, silver fox, badger and Icelandic lamb.
They all have different backgrounds, inspiration and narratives. But, like any creative spirit, they all share their passion for innovation, telling stories and being listened to. Proudly representing their countries, they are all winners for us as they proved that our trade is more alive than ever.
P.S. Brace yourselves people because next week we’ll be going to Iceland; the place that keeps on giving. Take out your warmest, most beautiful fur coats because it’s going to be cold.
The Fur Guru
xx