Thursday, April 22, 2010

Hiding in the Dark

by Paloma Canut

Photo from Numéro 106, September 09, Photographer Sølve Sundsbø

TO HIDE: “verb. Put or keep out of sight; conceal from the view or notice of others. 2 (of a thing) prevent (something or someone) from being seen”

DARK: “with little or no light. 2 hidden from knowledge, mysterious”

The Room, Autumn/Winter 09-10. Photographer: Emilio Tini

The colour black has been attributed with several values, some of them are: darkness, mystery, comfort, power, authority… an endless list of connotations that we are all aware off and take into consideration when using this colour. However, how many people are actually trying to transmit that message through by their choice in outerwear and which message are they trying to send? Are these messages in some way connected?

The Room, Autumn/ Winter 09-10, “Fade into you” Photographer: Dobos Tamás

Black in outerwear can be used to show and let different messages shine through. These messages can all be related and set under the idea of invisibility and darkness. Black has become a uniform for everyone even though for some people it is used as a safety net, as a way of being unnoticed yet still being ‘well-dressed’; others use it in the opposite way, as a form in which they can show off who they really are. These people are trying to let the darkness inside of them shine through to the outside, trying to give light to the dark we all have and try to hide. Although, most of the people tend to use black outerwear and hide, there are many exceptions in which the objective behind the choice of colour is precisely to call for attention, to try to be exposed for everyone to see and have nothing to protect you from the view of the others. It is however our own choice, each time before we leave our house to go outside, to decide what we fill like wearing, what does our gut feeling tell us? And ask ourselves “How do YOU feel today”?

Gareth Pugh, Fall 2008, Images through Style.com

See the collaboration with SHOWstudio for AW 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment