Intimacy
Design Museum, Helsinki
October 10, 2021 – March 13, 2022

More than mere fabric, an item of clothing creates a link between the self and others. Fashion is a means for shaping, measuring and communicating the self. In the globalized, networked world, the dressed body and images associated with it have become ever more central means of narration.

Intimacy addresses the new politicization and digitalization currently revolutionizing fashion. The expectation is for fashion to take a stand and change the world. Social sustainability and the principle of non-discrimination have become important values within fashion. Fashion is a form of critical thinking that seeks to promote concepts such as body respect, gender diversity and antiracist practices.

Digitalization has changed fashion design processes, clothes and experiences of fashion. Through technology, clothes have been transformed into data centers that store intimate data and can be connected to other devices, individuals and data networks. Garments can also exist only virtually: in computer games, or on a digital catwalk, for example.

Intimacy explores the intimate relationship between clothing and the body through seven themes, demonstrating the deeply intertwined relationship between fashion and clothing in the 2020s definition of humanity. At the same time, the exhibition can help us to update our understanding of clothing and accessory design. The exhibition features products and works by more than 40 fashion designers, artists or brands with connections to Finland.

The exhibition is a part of the research project Intimacy in Data-Driven Culture (IDA) funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland.

more. www.designmuseum.fi