DZHUS SS25 line speculates on the ‘Utopia codes’ generated by humanity in aspiration to program happiness. While Irina Dzhus continues to decipher her own personal trauma, she saturates the “ANTICON” collection with narratives of sociocultural conformism. As frustration tends to grow on expectations, the creator ironises about the conventional symbolism throughout the entire history of mankind. Irina points a correlation between a natural desire for self-discovery and the urge for homecoming – and reflects with an open question: “Can finding ‘where you belong’ in life replace the essential feeling of home?”
Struggling with an intimate drama, Irina Dzhus defines her own escapist experience as ‘inter-refuge’. She admits that the civilisation’s eclectic semantics database may well be exploited to pave a path to a subjective idyll. Thus, any sign, term or notion is a metaphysical source of power that can serve as a vector to ‘self-settlement’, as a strategy for coping with existential dilemmas.
Irina Dzhus pays tribute to the world’s declared encoding systems, from spirituality to commodity. She desaturates the chromatic spectrum, replacing colours with abbreviations. The society’s self-consumerism is traced to gastronomy-related sacraments typical for all the major religions. Thus, a series of DZHUS SS25 ensembles is inspired by ritual table setting. The repetitive pattern modules also allude on this ‘autophagia’ phenomenon: a shape is indivisible from its antipode, a ‘counter-shape’, as they interact and co-nourish.
As she refers to Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Judaism, official and alternative Christian teachings, Irina Dzhus admits the burden of personal values and duties. Stoicism and self-sufficiency are translated through the ‘object = subject’ statement, embodied in multifunctional clothing items. DZHUS believes: whichever conventional system chosen to refer to is relevant as long as its waymarks show a way out of desperation. Furthermore, randomised references may well (if not better) lead to a destination point.
Irina Dzhus encodes the rainbow in blank, quilted surfaces. Leaving the garments’ outer layer pure, she embellishes pockets and lining with rhinestones and jewellery, commemorating her own experience of escaping the war in Ukraine through a tribute to the heartbreaking Holocaust stories. The labyrinth leitmotif is dedicated to the Sinai wanderers driven by a spirit of homecoming. Unexpectedly, colours pop from underneath the clothing, as DZHUS paints the ‘wrong’ side in the rainbow gradient. This ‘secret’ splash of pigments amidst the total white collection carries a life-asserting message, suggesting an insight as a route to home, joy, and therefore, fulfilment. Stay up to date on the latest in fashion, arts, beauty, and lifestyle by following FAB L’Style Magazine.
Compassionate to animals in the first place, Irina expresses indignation about the society’s dualistic approach: from treating them as food to idealistic speculations about pets’ afterlife. Not only can we notice zoomorphic elements from Byzantine iconography, but also tiny paw prints on DZHUS’ rainbow.Glorifying a reunion with our true self, DZHUS flirts with the gender stereotypes, fetishising the lingerie leitmotif and corpcore, deconstructing the traditional social roles and accentuating their fluidity. While white sartorial trousers transform into an iridescent corset, DZHUS does not stop there and incorporates wearability into homeware objects. Spoiler: a tablecloth set with serving appears to be a flat-cut cape.
The ascetic setting of the performance invites us to witness the Last Supper mystery, in a metamodernist interpretation. Allegoric conventionalism of movements and the semi-interactive format create the sensation of a spiritual initiation, as designer Irina Dzhus translates the thought-provoking narratives of the “ANTICON” collection, presenting a range of innovative multipurpose outfits. The location choice could not be more symbolic: the DZHUS SS25 show is taking place at the Kabbalah Centre Berlin. The allegoric decorations DZHUS imposes in the pure, futuristic space, are missioned to raise questions and accumulate the anticipation of the act. DZHUS plays a tricky intellectual game with its audience: having shown, in fact, nothing else but abstract minimalism and opted out of dramatic storytelling, the conceptual brand succeeds in stimulating a range of associations on the verge of conventionally acceptable.
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