Beautiful Repair: Mending in Art and Fashion

Beautiful Repair: Mending in Art and Fashion

Beautiful Repair is one of the most highly-anticipated art exhibitions in the Nordics this year and for good reason. Not only does it provide a podium for a new generation of artists, it’s creating a much needed space for intergenerational rethinking about the relationship between clothes and the people who wear them.

Vogue Skandinavien
Udstillingen
A new phenomenon is spreading across the worlds of art and fashion: the aesthetics of mending. Recycling is gaining creative momentum, generating stunning experimental creations. For a new generation of artists and designers, second-hand materials, dead stock and sophisticated mending techniques are fuelling the creation of valuable narratives and ornamentation, giving new life to clothes and providing fertile ground for aesthetic expression.

Throughout modernity, artists have been fascinated by clothing as a means of change. Clothes can be a political statement or a form of personal expression. Likewise, many fashion designers draw inspiration from fine art. Conceptually, their designs often move in the direction of art.

Appearing in art and fashion, the aesthetics of mending are associated with an ideal of beauty that celebrates imperfection and personal history. Sustainability is linked to creativity, craft and aesthetic expression.

Photos © Copenhagen Contemporary.