Total look / Aada Koivuranta
Inspired by the uniformity of Finnish Police during the 2006 Smash ASEM Riot, photographer Juha Arvid Helminen began exploring the idea of unity through dress and colour. His Invisible Empire series, premiered in Schön! 10, explored sombre silhouettes. Now, the photographer has released When The Tape Runs Out, a collaboration with seven young Finnish fashion designers, created as a Schön! online exclusive.
Total look / Pauliina Jokivuo
Total look / Hanna Herva
“The characters in my work are the prisoners of traditions and walls that we’ve created for ourselves,” says Helminen, who has been working on his ‘Invisible Empire’ series since 2008, “how close can the viewers get to the characters that have so much of their personality taken away from them through uniformity?” Using white as his sole palette, Helminen asked the designers to craft a personality from uniformity, using only white jersey as a textile. With an open design brief, the pieces stand alone on a white painted model on a white backdrop, exploring the graphic nature of the colour white and how great differences in aesthetic can be created from sameness.
Total look / Enni Lähderinne
Total look / Elina Töyrylä
Although it is fascinating to see how far the designers could push the textile visually, it is perhaps even more so to read of their inspirations and their outlook on their designs. “I see it as more of something that exists inside a person’s mind,” says designer Miska Biitala of using revolution as her inspiration, creating a dress with exaggerated rounded shoulders, “I read stories about crazy people and got inspired by self-obliteration, hallucinations, isolation and the overall power of the mind.”
Total look / Miska Viitala
Total look / Linda Kokkonen
Some designers really embraced the colour, with Elina Töyrylä inspired by blank cartilage paper, creating clean and sharp lines from her white jersey, whilst others were inspired by something a little darker, with Hanna Herva drawing her designs from the end of the world.
This photo series proves that in an age where creativity seems to stem mainly from exaggeration, luxe materials and colour play, sometimes simplicity can be key in creating identity and character from clothing.
Words / Molly Taylor
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This Schön! online exclusive was produced by
Photographer / Juha Arvid Helminen
Model / Jenni @ Paparazzi and Linda
Make up / Susu Holm
Photographer’s assistant / Tiina Eronen
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