White with a twist
Local fashion designer Katerina Neofitidou is trying to stop the brainwashing. Do want you want not what you ‘must’, she says
A lowlife cable TV operator discovers a ‘snuff TV’ broadcast called Videodrome. But Videodrome is more than a TV show – it’s an experiment that uses regular TV transmissions to permanently alter the viewer’s perceptions by giving them brain damage. The TV operator gets caught in the middle of the forces that created Videodrome and the forces that want to control it, his body itself turning into the ultimate weapon to fight them. It may be Cronenberg’s daring film about the media, but Videodrome is also the main inspiration for a new fashion exhibition, Long Live the New Flesh by Katerina Neofitidou.
“I have a love/hate relationship with fashion,” the designer said (her main job is architecture). “I find fashion a beautiful, creative yet controlled system as women are more or less still told what to wear and how to wear it through the media and especially magazines.” In a bid to rally against the “system”, Katerina is breaking moulds, experimenting with clothes and coming up with her own version of what free-spirited fashion is all about. The exhibition’s environment is dressed in white with dozens of single shoes painted in the same colour, with clothes hovering over them. “It looks like a ghost that has eventually taking the form of flesh and bones.”
Although her exhibition is restricted to one room in Old Nicosia, it is packed with fashion statements poles apart from the usual high street shop windows displaying the ‘in’ and the ‘must’. Katerina’s designs include vintage dresses and blouses and jumpsuits with a twist. Every item of clothing is one of a kind and each is made from materials picked by Katerina from the strangest of places. “I went through old boxes in thrift stores, digging around in textile shops around the old part of Nicosia and even antique shops where I got some old button-like studs. They were on an old dress and tied beautifully with this white jumpsuit,” she explained. Perhaps the most characteristic part of Katerina’s designs is the way she combines completely different materials to produce astonishing results. “Just when you think that a polka dot red pattern will look stupid on a flower print basis, you put it together and it works. Beautifully, I might add.”
A full skirt dangling from one of the hangers differs from the norm; with a quirky twist and embellished in detail, it looks nothing like your typical 50s piece. “I see women in Cyprus with a personal style but they are still dominated by particular aspects of the fashion industry. They aren’t self-confident enough to wear what they want to wear without feeling criticised,” said the designer. So, does she think anyone can wear her clothes? “Of course!” But would an older woman want to? “I don’t know. I think it depends how old you feel.” Like the 1983 Videodrome, Katerina is testing the waters, but this time fashion is the focus. She’s saving those who are brainwashed by introducing an alternative yet ever so simple way of having fun with clothes. What’s her final verdict? “Just have fun and above all be yourself. Don’t dress to impress. Dress to feel comfortable and confident; that’s even better.”
New Flesh Fashion Vulture Exhibition until July 21.
A. Liasidou Street, 3 (opposite Temporary Space Gallery) From 17:00- 20:00 Monday to Friday. Tel: 99-378295
