A blurry vision of the body – Melitta Baumeister rethinks silhouettes

vor 2 years

Only a few master the art of deconstruction.

The idea of deconstruction gained popularity in fashion when the avant-garde works of Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten graced the runways and thus the international fashion magazines. But the term finds its origin in the French philosophy of the early 90s. The philosopher Jacques Derrida is considered the founder and main representative of the movement. Now, a new generation of fashion intellectuals is rethinking deconstruction that never ceases to inspire.

“Clothing has more important tasks than keeping us warm. It changes our view of the world and the world’s view of us,” the British writer Virginia Woolf once said. And being obviously right about it, since her essay “A Room to Ourselves” is one of the most quoted works of the modern feminist movement. And it is no secret that clothing always serves to directly convey an opinion or a statement, or even to show which subculture one belongs to. In this way, we project our attitudes and feelings onto our textiles and can put on a new identity every day. In doing so, we communicate the modern image of women in fashion much more boldly today than we did a few years ago. The cultural conversation about the female body and the general image of women is changing thanks to impulse generator who are raising the flag for diverse bodies. Melitta Baumeister is certainly one of the pioneers of this modern transmission of the female body.

Her design approach always consists of an interplay between creativity, destruction and alienation. Her unconventional but meaningful design language and silhouettes convey a certain leitmotif. But putting Melitta Baumeister’s unique aesthetic into words is certainly not easy, as the label’s collections combine couture-like craftsmanship with contemporary sensibility, so that their designs could easily find a place on a red carpet in a flurry of flashbulbs, as well as in fashion museums. The SS22 collectionpieces are all about volume that transport a deconstructed 1950s-couture feeling and Baumeisters penchant for foam is onmnipresent this season. The foam was used to create a lilac look, which at first glance might seem like an homage to Rei Kawakubo’s so-called lumps and bumps collection of spring 1997, that this time distorts the body in a sophisticated way. Jersey intermingles with fine pleating throughout this collection providing movement.
Thanks to interesting cuts and shape-shifting looks, Melitta Baumeister SS22 collection has not only mastered the art of decontruction, but also created a blurry vision of the body and reinterpreted silhouettes entirely.

All Images: Courtesy of Melitta Baumeister
Words by Annika Duda