HOW MARINE SERRE’S CIRCULAR AW23 SET DESIGN IS CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL RUNWAY AESTHETICS
Photo Courtesy of Matiere Noire
30 jan 2023, for frame
Location
211 Av. Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris, France
Design
Brand
Art and Set Designer
Matière Noire, a multidisciplinary design studio, created a fully circular set to present Marine Serre’s AW23 collection which calls on the need to reform the fashion industry’s role in the impending climate crisis.
Key features
Marine Serre presented its five-part collection Rising Shelter set against a backdrop of three 8-m high towers filled with 1,300 kg of used clothing. Matière Noire and Marine Serre's set designer Remie Brier built the towers using vintage denim, silk scarves, and t-shirts sourced by the fashion studio. The show took place inside the Grande Halle de La Villette, translating to the Great Hall of Cattle. The space was formerly a slaughterhouse and is now a cultural centre. Light and smoke helped transform the space into an apocalyptic scene echoing the world's impending climate disaster and our own self-destruction. But the show concluded on a hopeful note: the clothes that filled the towers will be returned to the studio to be used in future collections.
FRAME's take
The AW23 show strays from the familiarity of high fashion presentations with its dystopian scenography intended to incite meaningful, fundamental change. Marine Serre sought to expand the conversation beyond the insularity of the fashion community, by opening half of its seats to the public with online invitations. The brand showcased its belief in transforming the fashion industry with by involving the public in hopes of start a strong chain reaction that will create and transmit hope to future generations.
In exploring the critical issues of climate change, conscious consumption, and inclusion, Marine Serre raises the fact that the circular and recyclable design will bring new aesthetics; not many people would describe the runway setting of Marine Serre AW23 as ‘fashionable’ in a typical sense. We must face that there will be limitations to the imagination of the existing spaces, when used materials will define them, and the perception and idea of beauty will change. These limitations may leave spatial imagination solely to digital domains.