I've been meaning to write about Meadham Kirchhoff now since I read an interview with them in the latest LOVE issue (which was weeks ago!), and now I've just read another interview in ES Magazine, I thought it's about time I express my response/
Also, I've neglected this blog for far too long now, with ending my final year of university and moving down to London (no excuses), I can now focus more time on this.
So, anyway, here goes,
When I read the interview in Love Magazine I was pleasently surprised and impressed by the political message and opinions that guide and infuse the designs of Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff. I felt that they came across very well, to me they seemed totally sincere and explicit about their true feelings and views on the world. The openness and dis-regard to conform or be dictated by pre-established ideals within fashion, and especially for fashion designers, ran clear throughout both interviews. I feel as if they have almost invoked a kind of Copernican revolution, explaining the ridiculousness of magazines dictating what we should or shouldn't wear, likewise of what to
expect from designers before the models have even walked down the catwalk! The limiting and constraining effect this has is global. But can be active without almost realising, although these two who obviously have a firm grasp on reality and their own minds as thinking beings (not just robots) have overstepped this dictatorial deficit.
What goes hand-in-hand with this is a re-occurring theme within their work, that of women's creativity and self-expression. Although feminism is thought of as an old theme, the way Meadham Kirchhoff detail it is in a new way, that is the current effect that the media, advertisement and technology (amongst other things) has had, which they say "kills the pride that women have established". Therefore, they feel that by presenting collections which embody the idea of self expression unbounded, that we will wear what we want rather than what might flatter us, or of what might be "in fashion" (I hate even writing that phrase!!)
These views, I felt came across in a very sound way, apart from loving their past collections aesthetically, the freedom from constraint and depiction of limitless self expression certainly ignites the same moral in me.
I find that the concepts behind many designers work seem either secondary to their designs (in that they may try to make their work seem more deep or meaningful than it perhaps is) or unecessary. However, Meadham Kirchhoff's political views seem to me to be very inspiring and dynamic.
The interview explained how the duo hardly ever leave their studio, and instead live in an "obsessive seclusion", their creativity bursting from inner feelings (be it anger or upset) which Ed explains as "a total reaction against what is around us in the outside world"
I thought I'd post some photos as a little retrospective before their show on Tuesday, as well as to detail my response to the interviews which had a lasting impression on me.
In the ES Magazine interview Ed explained
People will not necessarily like what we do, but we give our entire selves to it. It would totally depress me if our clothes were something that people liked in a mediocre way... Well I most certainly wouldn't describe my love for their clothes in this way, hopefully one day I can afford them!!
