All photos by Magdalena Piotrowski
Michelin men, wrestling, trash culture. Manon Kündig, a third-year fashion student, sent models in sombre blown-up rubber costumes onto the catwalk. At the end of the runway the boys deflated the costumes, to the delight of the crowd.
Kündig's designs were stretched over the voluminous rubber costumes. Underneath, a white leather jacket with airbrushed eighties-style trash motifs was revealed: an nuclear mushroom cloud in scintillating colours, framed by colourful parrots, amongst them a skull with a sausage clamped between its teeth.
But as if that weren't enough: a short time later a massive spherical form appeared on stage shrouded in dry ice that revealed itself to be a colossal skull. As soon as the skull deflated it was transformed into a long cape.
Manon Kündig proved that a defilee can be so much more than a mere marketing exercise. In the best cases this form of creative expression can reach the level of performance art. Head honcho Walter van Beirendonck, who has become famous with his humorous and visionary productions, was visibly delighted by the performative sculptures.
