meshit x Alfonso Moral
Two completely different stories from Brazil are brought together. A glimpse of lives in different places and times can’t help but leaving us contemplating. Meshit’s SS17 collection (photography by Stefanie Moshammer) is inspired by the cultural and political movement “Tropicália” in the late 60s Brazil. Travelled through Amazon and Rio Negro, photographer Alfonso Moral documented the old villages and the residents along the blackwater.
Centred around the world of youth culture, meshit has been strongly influenced by the cultural movements in the past. The ‘Tropicália’ movement inspired the 2017 spring summer collection contains various art forms that combine the popular and the avant-garde as well as traditional Brazilian culture with foreign influences. Pieces with clear geometrical cuts and colour-divisions are influenced by Brazilian visual artist Hélio Oiticica, who were involved in the Neo-Concrete Movement in the late 50s in Brazil, and are recognized by his innovative use of colour.
The collection contains designs that quote the look and lifestyle of various musicians of the ‘Tropicália’ scene which leads to a mix of feminine and masculine. Following extravagant stage-outfits from that time, details such as rouches, bows and bell-shaped sleeves appear throughout the collection.
Alfonso Moral’s photo series ‘Amazon and Rio Negro’ is a travel diary through the dark and vital waters of the river that crosses the north of Brazil like a life scar. It portrays stories about the residents of the Rio Negro settlements and documents the remains of the old villages abandoned after the fall of the rubber business. This work is a reflection on man’s interaction with nature and vice versa, an unequal encounter characterized by a tension, reflecting the struggle for permanent existence.
Featuring
Fashion design // meshit
Photography (non-fashion) // Alfonso Moral
Fashion photography // Stefanie Moshammer
Model // Lea & Nina
MUA // Ina Maurer