To narrate the change of forms into new bodies pushes the inspiration. O gods, if yours are these metamorphoses, inspire my drawing, so that the singing from the origins of the world unfolds uninterrupted until my days.
Ovid. Metamorphoses.
Kristina Spirk, fashion designer of Croatian origin, tired of fashion understood as an empire, returns to the human creature by launching a declaration of intent: Decontoured. House of style, ethics and art. A revolutionary vision of the trade-fashion. Nothing like the difficult present moment makes it possible to appreciate the needs that prompted the multifaceted artist Spirk to escape the logics of the collections, the seasons and fast fashion to reinvent a personal (but since universal) concept of beauty intrinsically linked to being, to the story of the person who does not simply wear a garment but goes to the world.
Decontoured does not create the dress from regular, uniform and anonymous raw materials. Decontoured looks at the clothes that already exist. Like an alchemical formula, it intervenes so that it is the transformation of the elements that defines the new work.
Customers are received by appointment at the De Atelier in Milan, a development and sales point. They wear a garment with a deep emotional content. They are not ready to lose it among the things thrown away, but they cannot even wear it anymore. Because motionless. “Old”.
Decontoured rebels, turns and turns back as the name of the house suggests. He goes back all the way and discovers how to give life to the dress and at the same time how to honor the memory, the wounds, the memories, the emotions of those who will wear it.
“Valentina, she was very close to her grandmother who lived in Sicily. Grandma was from another era. Always beautiful, made up; even when there was hunger. He had this white coat. He wanted to preserve its shape. I rewrote the story of Valentina’s and grandma’s dress. “
Starting from the existing is a real philosophy that permeates the entire creative activity. A manifesto of memory. Not nostalgic, rather generative. Beyond the custom that sees us involved in the accumulation and loss.
Decontoured is primarily an ideology.
A movement. She herself states “In my head Decontoured belongs to everyone with whom it comes into contact, and I want everyone to leave something of themselves in the project and contribute to its development. As a child, Decontoured must be able to grow under my care but at the same time, also independently by me “.
Starting from the already formed matter rather than from the informless is a limit. But Decontoured believes that from the comparison with the limit comes a form of maturation. Of course, this can only happen when you have lively creativity, solid experience and first-rate tailoring skills.
This new haute couture approach is the result of a profound need to give a sustainable shape to the creative process. This also takes place thanks to the minimum waste production schemes, the use of the technical specifications of alternative moulge and meta design, and digital customization. Another measure that allows to reduce the environmental impact is the creations of transformable and versatile clothes that can be used both from the right and the reverse, and in different ways. So as to have a multiple meaning with the same resources consumed.
Decontoured productions do not accelerate consumption, but slow it down. The creative activity of Decontoured interrupts the waste and does not go to erode the planet ecosystem.
These examples incorporate the essence of Decontoured design. The new product is created from already existing vintage coats and redesigned and re-designed (re-finalized) leather scraps to create a new transformable, multi-purpose and double-sided garment.
Customers return to Decontoured to compose a work of art that follows their time: their intimate, unique, unrepeatable designer dress. The infinite and never perfect dress, as we human beings are. The pockets, the lapels, the accessories can be imagined and seen emerging while we watch ourselves change; physically and spiritually. The ability to compose and decompose should not be confused for virtuosity. Decontoured makes it an ethical concept. The fragments and contrasts, put together and relocated, guarantee to conquer a beauty never given but always authentic and present. Decontoured dresses the authenticity of the person.
Decontoured’s highly personalized creations live on a delicate balance between perfection and smudging. When something appears too perfect, distortion is introduced; to give life, in the sign of chaos. So here are some imperfections that work and that you deliberately choose to maintain, but in all the rest “The sartorial details are brought to absolute perfection.”
Decontoured’s work is carried out at a high level of professionalism, and requires a team of competent and courageous people who can work outside their comfort zone. Kristina Spirk takes the utmost care in managing the relationship with collaborators, and is inspired by the principles of meta-design to create a working environment conducive to cooperation.
Decontoured constantly dialogues with the universe of art and culture. From Kandinsky to Virginia Woolf, passing through Gaudí, Calder, Woodman, Araki and many others. A reference that stands out is Picasso. One of the most famous paintings of the Spanish genius is “Le Demoiselles d’Avignon”.
“Picasso produced numerous preparatory studies and sketches in preparation for this key work in the early development of Cubism.” recalls the Art Curator for Decontoured Martina Alemani. Decontoured’s work, following the inspiration of Kristina, proceeds between destructuring, flaking and recomposing, in a similar way to Picasso’s work.
The very name of Decontoured represents this gait. The word Contour indicates the outline of a shape, and in our specific case the aesthetic identity of a garment. The prefix therefore has the task of deconstructing and introducing the moment of transformation. Together, these two meanings come together and Decontoured is born: a philosophy of transfiguration and revitalization of existing forms. An enrichment of meaning that takes place in the sphere of sustainable high fashion.
About Kristina Spirk
Kristina Spirk is a fashion designer of Croatian origin who combines the deeply creative and visionary gaze of the true artist with the concreteness of the entrepreneur. This is how he describes his way of working: “Working with, or in Decontoured, is a challenge. I’m not willing to compromise with the quality of production, service and sustainability. “
After university studies in design, Spirk trained in the international professional environment, accumulating a deep knowledge of the fashion system.
The creation of Decontoured comes for Spirk at the end of a long existential search. Decontoured was born as a solution to a “complex challenge: how to create objects that have new and intense values for my customers and therefore for myself, without producing garbage and polluting the world and, finally, being able to be profitable too. ”
P. Rew. : Studio Re Public Relations