Adjustable boundaries & Interface – Kilian Goderis

"Clothing should be adapted to the individual, not the other way around" affirms the Kask master's student. Kilian designs throughout his social belief that everyone is entitled to clothes that match both their body and their personal expression. "If you look at older clothes, they were adjustable with extra buttons or elastic bands at the waist. Those pieces changed with your body," Kilian notes. Nowadays, clothes are made for non-existent body shapes. "Every time a model tries on my adjustable designs, I immediately see their self-confidence rise." He confirms.

He wants to be able to use each item to its fullest, extract every application. That's why he likes to collect old items. "In the olden times, craftsmen made a fusion of functionality and decoration. As a result, we cherished our things more" Kilian dreams back. With his designs, he shows that clothes are made to protect us, not suffocate us.

Check out this expo on the fourth floor of the Industriemuseum.

Grandi - Chiron Floris

In this culturally inspired exhibition, Chiron Floris shows the fruits of her master's research. When she found out that her great-grandfather was born in Sardinia, she set off towards the island with a personal and artistic question. She spoke to several craftspeople and studied various traditional Sardinian techniques. During two art residencies, she had the opportunity to immerse herself in these age-old techniques. Throughout her journey, she let her feelers guide her. Looking for a gift for her godson, she stumbled upon the inspiration for her artistic work.

'I am creating a monument to value and memory,' Chiron states. By stripping the garment of its functionality, she emphasises its symbolic value and power. "We need to revalue our wearable objects." she pleads. The Kask master's student demonstrates all this with the Sardinian tradition Sa Punga, in which you sew a pouch to the inside of your clothes. You keep that pouch with sacred earth, herbs and spells close to your heart. By adding an extra blessing to our clothes, we might appreciate our clothes again.

Check out this expo on the fourth floor of the Industriemuseum.

A Shopping spree: a waste of waste - What comes next?

Nanook Cools and Sarah De Geyter are the rising fashion designers of the What comes next? Collective. They enjoy working on installations that blur the boundaries between performance, art and fashion. Exclusively for the festival, they created an installation criticising the established disposable culture and our mass consumption. With their life-sized clothing pile, they want to wake people up: "What are we doing? Constantly looking for the next aesthetic dopamine kick." Argues Nanook. The duo went door-to-door to ten Ghent households. As a result, the installation created itself organically. The colour palette, shape and size is entirely decided by donations. "Adapting to your surroundings and working with what we have, that's the true sustainable message." Sarah confirms.

The young designers admit that it is difficult to design in an eco-friendly way. Meanwhile, there is already enough clothing for the next six generations. "To be truly sustainable, we don't have to make anything new anymore" the young ladies admit, "I won't put the word sustainabilty in my mouth. It is difficult to really know where your fabric comes from. So how sure are you of your sustainability?" Sarah and Nanook remark.

With the installation, they want to outrage, confront and make visitors think about their consumption behaviour. "Everyone should feel personally attacked, because there is literal piece of them lying there. A piece they no longer attach any values to." This is how the What-comes-next-designers hope their visitors learn to cherish their clothes.

Check out this expo on the fourth floor of the Industriemuseum.

Fashion portrets - Nadja Zheksi

Be inspired by the mise-en-scene pictures of fashion lover Nadja Zheksi. The clothes whisper stories to her, which she passionately captures in analogue photos. She finds those garments at flea markets or in friends' wardrobes. She prefers to work with vintage clothes, which often already have a time spirit attached to them. "I put something of myself in each photo, so I try to give each outfit a unique touch" Nadja adds. For each story, she looks for the right location and a model that fits the atmosphere. That's why she also likes to be inspired by a designer's vision: "I don't want to control everything, the stories flow naturally." she laughs.

Nadja wants people to be able to step into the picture. She likes that everyone can fit in with a different style. Through her photo series, Nadja hopes to inspire visitors to find new combinations in their own wardrobes.

Check out her photo series on the first floor of The Centrale.

Blood on my hands - Joni Vanderhaeghe

This upstarting artist asks you to examine fast fashion closely. "I don't place my criticism on a big billboard, you can make people aware without grotesque gestures." Joni Vanderhaege explains. Through subtle changes, such as fingerprints of his own blood, he wants to address the brutal reality behind fast fashion. "We are always looking for the next fashion trend, which results in a mountain of discarded clothes." he notes, "We forget that for some workers, the production process makes a difference between life and survival."

Joni invites visitors to step into the silent, wooden box and find the differences "Also exploitation happens on the sly, I wanted to symbolise that" Joni reminds us. He himself tries to research every purchase, sometimes in vain he admits: "it happens that I spend days looking for the working conditions behind a certain product." Becoming aware of the malpractices in the fashion industry often requires some effort. In his installation, Joni asks just that effort of you.

Check out this expo on the fourth floor of the Industrial Museum.

Just publish it & manifesto – Fiore Farhand

This critical fashion practitioner and podcast maker presents her manifesto against the modern fashion landscape. She believes that global sustainability consists of achievable adjustments. "I try to apply habits that I can sustain in the long run," she says. Explains Fiore Farhand. In her installation Just publish it, she exposes the greenwashing practices of sports brand Nike. With an indistinctly printed T-shirt she represents the confusing spiderweb of information that Nike provides on their website. "Companies like to confuse us, so we lose focus and don't discover their greenwashing," Fiore warns. With her installation, she makes visitors aware of the sly game that brands play more often, as Nike does in their Move to zero campaign. "Especially in sustainable campaigns, we have to stay alert and critical" she says.

That critical spirit runs through her manifesto. In it, she asks people to get as much value out of their wardrobes as possible. She encourages visitors to talk to each other, share tips and get creative together with what we already have. In her manifesto, she asks you to share your fair fashion slogan.

Check out this expo on the fourth floor of the Industriemuseum.