This exhibition is an invitation to walk through the labyrinths of fashion activism, the same ones that the author has been wandering through for the past two years, since the first day of the war in Ukraine coincided with the beginning of Fashion Week. Here we will meet both –the search for personal peace in the shadow of an unpredictable political climate, historical figures and events that helped to believe in a brighter tomorrow. Attempts to understand, explore, explain, educate, and sometimes just be.
Fashion and activism have always been connected, but in the 21st century it became an inevitable reality along with the increased amount of protests and the general desire to resist. The first manifestations of activism in fashion date back to the 18th century, when the extravagant fashion of the aristocracy was simplified to everyday costume during the French Revolution. Over time, changes in political systems, increased influence of the middle class, and the effects of the Industrial Revolution helped fashion find even more ways to express an oppositional stance. Abandoned corsets, jeans, a mini skirt, a bikini swimsuit are just a few of the many that have testified to fashion in the context of activism. Fashion can help to reflect ethnic, social and cultural experiences, highlight problems, and with the right use of fashion tools, offer solutions. All this is one fashion designer’s journey finding ways to adapt it to everyone.
Justina Semčenkaitė is a trained fashion designer focused solely on sustainability. Working on conceptual objects, creating them to escalate different social issues in parallel she teaches sustainable fashion subject at Vilnius Art Academy.
After obtaining Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fashion Design at Vilnius Academy of Arts (2018), currently Justina is a Ph.D. candidate in Design. Her creative style is known to be bright, surreal and ironic, often using pink colour and objects often delving into themes of socio-cultural stereotypes, fashion experiments and activism. The most known projects – the experimental fashion collection *GIRL POWER* and the exhibition Welcome to the Pretty Ugly World. Besides maintaining creative expression through fashion Justina is also a community coordinator of FASHION REVOLUTION movement in Lithuania which is focused on campaigning for ethical fashion, fair pay and working conditions for garment workers.
Justina Semčenkaitė
WEARABLE ACTIVISM: TO DRESS OR TO PROTEST?
07/05–31/05/2024
VAA Gallery Artifex (Gaono st. 1, Vilnius)
Photography: Robertas Muravskij, Vytenis Petrošius
